Continuing from the last post in September.
Character Sheet Clues, Part II
Author: DHBoggs / Labels: History
WEAPONS
Listed
|
#’s
|
CHAINMAIL VALUES
Vs. No Armor
|
Daggar
|
7
|
6
|
Hand-Axe
|
8
|
7
|
Mace
|
6
|
8
|
Sword
|
6
|
7
|
Battle Axe
|
10 +5
|
8
|
Morning Star
|
6
|
6
|
Flail
|
7
|
7
|
Spear
|
5
|
8
|
Hand Bow*
|
6
| |
Composite*
|
6
| |
Pole Arms
|
8
|
6
|
Halbard
|
8
|
8
|
2 Hand Sword
|
3
|
6
|
Mounted Lance
|
9
|
5
|
Pike
|
7
|
8
|
Arquebus*
|
7
| |
Stone*
|
7
| |
Crossbow*
|
6
| |
Light Catapult*
|
4
| |
Heavy Catapult
|
10
| |
Bombard*
|
5
|
The Random Orc
Author: DHBoggs / Labels: Gaming Style
“I also recall having the ability to cast one or two spells and having the ability to help heal minor wounds, but in retrospect it's obvious my character was low level and not particularly impressive.” (Carr interview, http://blackmoor.mystara.us/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5550)
This divine granting of spells explains something else about the 3lbb's. There's no Read Magic spell for Clerics. Magic-user spells can only be understood with the use of a Read Magic spell. If Clerics were expected to memorize thier spells from spell books and scrolls as magic users do, and if their magic is basically the same, then Clerics would need a Read Magic spell too.
The Difference between Dragons at Dawn and Champions of ZED
Author: DHBoggs / Labels: CoZ, Dragons at DawnI get asked this question from time to time, so I wrote up a "pat answer" to point to:
Dragons at Dawn focuses on Dave Arneson and the Minnesota group of gamers. It deliberately tries to build on the quirks and unique things happening there while excluding more familiar game elements - so there is a Merchant class and a Sage class, in D@D for example; the magic is alchemical, combat involves saving throws to avoid damage and so forth.
Dragons at Dawn also looks to a lot of the root elements found in Adventures in Fantasy that were present in early Blackmoor, the combat modifiers, and elven song magic, for example.
Dragons at Dawn is set up around a core game of two ability classes (warrior, wizard), in the basic game, to which everything else can be added or ignored without affecting play much.
Champions of ZED on the other hand, has none of that "experimental" or quirky stuff from Blackmoor and AiF. Wherever possible, CoZ hews as close as good play and the law will allow to a combined and collated version of the game information found in the 3lbb's, Beyond This Point Be Dragons, CHAINMAIL, the appropriate sections of the Fist Fantasy Campaign, Supplement II and Gygax and Arneson house rules and comments from interviews and web posts, etc. My efforts are to make the game what it was meant to be in informed compromise between Gygax and Arneson and nobody else. Hence, only two or three little bits from Greyhawk.
There are some points of agreement and crossover between CoZ and D@D of course, but those using Champions of ZED will generally find themselves in much more familiar D&D territory with interesting twists and turns they probably never heard of, whereas Dragons at Dawn is its own game entirely.
There are 5 Saving throw categories in D&D from the 3lbb's to 2nd edition AD&D. They are
Death Ray or Poison
Wands (all)
Stone
Dragon Breath
Staves and Spells
Beyond This Point Be Dragons has 6 categories. However that is because Death Ray, and Poison are seperate.
Champions of ZED has 6 categories. They are Type I through Type VI.
Now you might well ask, if CoZ aims at always being true to designers Gygax and Arneson, what is up with the "Type" business. First, the Saving throw category names are intellectual property and not OGL material, so the exact labels could not be used in CoZ. I could have come up with clever similar names, probably, and maybe (or maybe not) done so within the bounds of the copyright restrictions, but those sort of hoops aren't necessary. I used Types because the Saving Throw categories were always intended to be flexible tools for the DM to use when and as needed. Each Type is described as being related to certain kinds of things and based upon a certain quality a character may posses at that particular moment, such as limberness or blind luck.
Now there are some who might protest, under the conviction that each saving throw category is specific and not meant for anything else; that Dragon Breath is only for dragon breath and should characters be attacked by a mad bomber or exploding gas or some such, none of the given saving throw categories apply. Consider this statement regarding saving throws from Gygax in the Dungeon Masters Guide p 80:
"Yet because the player character is all-important, he or she must always - or nearly always - have a chance, no matter how small, a chance of somehow escaping what otherwise would be inevitable destruction."
Since player characters must nearly always be given a chance, and since the 5 (or 6) named categories can't possibly cover every type of "inevitable destruction", the given categories must be stretched to include "things like" poison and "things like" dragon breath and so on.
Gygax goes on to write:
"Imagine that the figure, at the last moment of course, manages to drop beneath the licking flames or finds a crevice in which to shield his or her body, or finds a way to be free of the fetters. Why not? The mechanics of combat or the details of the injury caused by some horific weapon are not the key to heroic fantasy and adventure games. It is the character, how he or she becomes involved in the combat and how he or she escapes - or fails to escape - the mortal threat..."
So saying a saving throw category is a "Type" tied to a quality of the character at the moment of the threat is precisely in line with Gygax's explanation. Allowing a Save vs. Dragon Breath (a Type V in CoZ) in a field of exploding gas is entirely within the intent of the and spirit of the rules.
For reference, I've characterized the Type V saving throw in CoZ as involving situational awareness, the ability, at that last second to see the danger and a way out (into the crevice, beneath the licking flames or out of the fetters).
About Me
- DHBoggs
- Game Archaeologist/Anthropologist, Scholar, Historic Preservation Analyst, and a rural American father of three.
My Blog List
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On the Coming Bounty1 week ago
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STUFF4 months ago
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Attronarch's Athenaeum9 months ago
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How to Calculate Hit Points 5e D&D11 months ago
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Test3 years ago
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March 2021 Site Updates3 years ago
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The Madness Strikes Again ...4 years ago
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Happy Gygax Day!7 years ago
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Cardtography 2: A Simple Dungeon7 years ago
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Wow, its been awhile!8 years ago
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Top OSR Products of the Year8 years ago
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Review: Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish8 years ago
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Picking Up Where I Left Off9 years ago
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Catching up Weeks 16 – 199 years ago
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0-Level ACKS Alices9 years ago
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Palace of the Wind Sultan, Part 111 years ago
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