Trow Fortress 02: Equipment

 

Following with my rules, covering the subjects in the order that the BX book does. This time its turn for the equipment. I will get deep into encumbrance later, but the short explanation is that 1 point of STR = 1 slot.

Right now, I make players get whatever they want from the equipment list as long as they can carry it. This is because I normally want to skip the "roll for gold, buy equipment" parts, but in the future, I want to do it in a third way: randomize starting gear, as Into The Odd does, so level 1 can be spent searching for the weapon, gear or armor you wish you could get.

WEAPONS:

Club: weight 2, sp 5, critical 2.
Dagger: weight 1, sp 15, critical 2. Can be thrown; +1 attack die when grappling.
Short Sword: weight 2, sp 35, critical 2. Allows specialization.
Long Sword: weight 2, sp 50, critical 3. Allows specialization, If used in one hand, can re-roll one attack per combat.
Hand Axe: weight 2, sp 35, critical 3. Shield rolls require a 6
Mace: weight 2, sp 40, critical 3. Treats plate mail as if it was leather armor.
Spear: weight 3, sp 15, critical 3. +1 attack die when charging on a horse or when braced against one. When used in both hands, or in a formation, attacks always before the attacker. If you're hit with a shorter weapon, you cannot attack with a spear the next turn.
Greatsword: weight 3, sp 75. Critical 4. Allows specialization.
Polearms: weight 3, sp 65. Critical 4, ignores critical reduction of enemies on horse.

Bow: weight 2, sp 30, critical 3
Crossbow: weight 2, sp 60, critical 4 but takes 1 turn to reload.
Arrows/bolts: weight 1, sp 5, infinite unless something happens.
Sling: weight 1, sp 5, critical 3. Rolls with disadvantage.
Bolas: weight 3. sp 5 (rudimentary) or weight 2, sp 30 (properly done). Critical 2 if used on melee, roll with disadvantage. On a hit, the target is ensnared and must save vs paralyzation to escape. Ignores worn armor.

SPECIALIZATIONS (sort of Weapon Feats) are earned through Dexterity bonuses, for every +1 you can choose one:

Fencing (one handed swords): When you deal a hit with a sword, you can make a second attack. 

Sharpshooter: Choose crossbow or bow. On a hit, your attack deals +d6 damage, which is a lot.

Gaucho: Remove the disadvantage from slings and bolas. This one is odd but I made it ad-hoc for a player.

Greatsword fighter: re-roll an attack once per battle.

ARMOR

Shield: weight 2, 30 sp. Deflects any hit on a d6 roll of 5+
Leather armor: weight 2, sp 50, AC+1
Chain mail: weight 4, sp 100, AC+1, but +2 against slashing attacks
Plate armor: weight 6, sp 300, AC+2, AC+1 against maces (if in doubt, its not a mace)
Full plate: weight 8, sp 600, AC as above but you have +1 in your shield roll (or 1/6 chance if you haven't got a shield). Full plate greatly impairs vision and hearing, and is not advised on adventures, only jousting and mass battles.

EQUIPMENT

Most is as BX, so will only cover specific cases.

Flask of Flaming Oil: weight 1 each three. 10 sp. Ignited monsters roll 1d6 every turn: 6-5: two damage. 4-2: one damage. 1: fire is extinguished. 2d6 take best if the amount of oil is greater; 2d6 take worst if the monster tries to put out  the fire.

Holy Water: weight 1 (three uses). 25 sp or free. If put on arrows or weapons, all undead attacked take one extra damage on a succesful attack. Intelligent undead who touch holy water must check morale or flee for the moment.

Torches: weight 1 each six. 1 sp.

Water pelt: 5sp (I mean the bag, not the water)

Rations: 10 sp, seven days of food.

Room at the inn: 5sp per person, includes meal.

Battle horn: 200 sp (moderately ornate). Makes a distinct, recognizable sound that can be heard in all the hex in ideal circumstances. Something fancy for players to spend money into when they are with the compulsive buying madness.

Horses: Galloping through a road or good terrain will allow you to move 1 extra hex everyday (but will exhaust the horse). For comparative checks, a horse's movement when running is equal to d6+5
Peoples fighting atop of a horse benefit from having all critical damage taken from enemies smaller than a horse in melee reduced by 1. Horses have morale equal to 3d6 take middle result, and it is hinted by its behavior when you are buying it. However, horses do not check morale unless facing dire situations such as charging , finding a snake (snakes are like the nemesis of horses) or a predator ambush.

Normal horse: 200 sp,
Fast horse: 300 sp (a normal horse, but the seller claims is specially fast). Roll movement with advantage.
War horse: 1000 sp, morale 5 or 6 only. War horses can wear armor (500 sp) which provides a situational +1HP to the rider

 

Holy Symbol: Required for the Protection From Evil spell, may force morale checks on vampires or similar.

Ravens (30 sp): will deliver a letter to the rookery of a specific city, normally the one they were bought in. Sold in a small cage, might learn random words.

Falcons (40 sp): Common falcons are used to help in the hunt (+1 advantage die).

Dogs (still working on this one, I want ideally to cover hounds, shepards and wardogs separatelly but I got some crazy ideas im unsure of: basically:making hounds be all blink dogs, war dogs be a breed of half-wargs and shepards having some other boon. I want to integrate the monster manual into the domestication history)

Animals can be trained to learn a specific trick by animal trainers (pcs can become animal trainers through background) spending enough downtime. A trick can be something such as putting a falcon to intercept enemy ravens or teaching a raven a new destination. 

LANGUAGES:

I ignore languages completelly. Everybody either talks the common language, is too monstruous to discuss with, or something in between. As a note, I find very interesting and players are very engaged when they must make up what the monster wants or thinks by studying its non.verbal signs, it's reactions or even its behavior in solitude.

Joshua K about bad things

This is an article I liked written by the aforementioned, at his instagram: Immersive Dungeon Delving. I wanted to share it here because I think it has some truths on it. All credit is his, enjoy.

 

What if instead of thinking "why do all these bad things keep happening TO me?," we instead think "These bad things are happening FOR me?" How would that change your life? 

Everybody faces challenges in life but some have a harder path than others. Is that fair? No, but what is hard for some is easy for others. It is relative and depends on your thinking and past experience. For some just driving in a big city is a challenge, for others it is "Tuesday." Some people suffer serious stress when a stranger yells at them, for others fighting two men at the same time is just another day at the Dojo. Maybe we actually need problems to gain perspective? 

Just like a 1st level PC may struggle fighting off a couple of kobolds where as an 8th level PC may just laugh at them. To be honest, we as people NEED problems, because without them we will create them for ourselves. How many times do we see rich people who have everything and every chance but are still unhappy, jaded, and plagued by self created problems? 

In old-school D&D we often see a sandbox type campaign where the adventures are PC driven and things are not always fair. The DM must be objective revealing the world as the PC's engage with it. The adventure "story" develops through PC perception as they create meaning to events and the DM enacts consequences for their actions both good and bad. Without the "problems" of kobolds, dungeons, traps, and dragons, it would be a boring game and no one would raise levels...or have a chance for self development. Kind of like real life where the kobolds are a flat tire and a dragon the tornado. 

Adventures are made of problems laid out FOR the PC's by an objective DM for "fun" to play a game. Just like jumping out of a plane can be either a problem or fun. What if life is full of problems set by an objective universe to help us...well...level up? Such proactive thinking allows a mindset to tackle challenges head on instead of falling into a "victim mentality" where everyone and everything else is to blame for ones problems. The question then becomes what kind of adventurer do you want to be in life and what is stopping you from becoming it?

Art by NerdyFrida 

Trow Fortress 01: Character Creation and Advancement

When you play at my table, you start like this:

1. CHARACTER CREATION

1.1 Attribute Scores

Roll 3d6 in order for Strength, Dexterity, Background, Magic and Alignment. You can swap two of them if you want. Attribute scores will probably raise a little during the game. The bonuses work like this:

18: +3
16 or more: +2
13 or more: +1
9 or more: +0
8 or less: -1

Strength adds (or substracts) one HD for each bonus (which in turn, at certain numbers, modify the attack bonuses. More on this on the COMBAT chapter). It also modifies your "Open stuck doors" roll, which is a catch-all for brute force tasks, by 1 step per bonus.
Strength is very important for non-fighters too, as it is the measure of your charging capacity: you can carry slots equal to this score without being encumbered (MV or Movement 1 instead of 3) and only 3 more objects after that.

Dexterity adds one expertise per bonus. Some are combat related, some are more about agility: The  current list is (bear this lack of context for now):
Fencing: When you are attacked in melee and your opponent rolls a 1, you get an extra attack against him when using a one-handed sword. Doesn't work while using a shield.
Marksmanship: You can spend a turn aiming with a type of ranged weapon. On the next attack, you can either do an extra 1d6 damage if it hits, or raise advantage on an attack that missed (basically adding a d6 or substracting the disadvantage if you had any).
Ninjutsu: You roll an extra d6 for all movement and stealth rolls.
I hope to come up with better names at some point. If your bonus is negative, your movement becomes 2 instead of 3 by default

Background: There is a list of backgrounds but you can make up your own with your GMs approval. This score evolved from the concept of Intelligence, though it specifically represents how well you perform your background skills: Ranger, Alchemist, Thief, Sage, etc. are some examples. You roll die equal to your bonus, and normally a 5 or a 6 are hits depending on the action.
If your bonus is 0, you roll with disadvantage (roll 2d6, keep worst), and if your bonus is -1, you get double disadvantage (3d6 keep worst).
If an action can be attempted by characters without the relevant background, they roll at double disadvantage too.
Your background doesn't have to be chosen at the start, it can be chosen during the game and its probably useful to do so.
Once per character, you can produce an item at any point that is related to your background, no matter the shitty bonus you got on it.

Magic: Each bonus you get here means that you have a new spell slot. This is the only way magic is available to non-wizards. More on this on the upcoming magic chapter.

Charisma: you can have ONE faithful retainer per each bonus, so zero for average people. Retainers can be people and animals at first. They don't have to travel with you, but they might be a king or a princess at a given city: you know they will always vouch for you. Spirits or "Gods" can be befriended this way: some can be summoned if the character has Magic Dice, and some can provide passive benefits. Charisma also affects loyalty

Constitution: We don't have this one. On a natural way, my players have end up calling "constitution" to their HD amount, so I ended up doing the same (I know that HD/HP are not just meat points and represent more things beyond mere sturdiness of body, but I don't want to argue with them)

1.2 CHOOSE CLASS

Once you have your stats rolled, you must choose your class from the only three that are available at the start (I haven't ever needed more yet): Trow Warrior, Wizard and Kobold. (Kobolds are just hobbits by other name, while Trow are basically humans)

 

TROW KNIGHT: Start at 3 HD. Can use all weapons and armor.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  3HD

Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 03: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 06: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 HD

Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 

Level 09: save dice: 3, +1 HD

Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 12: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 HD

Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural HD: 16, with probable Str increments)

 

 

WIZARD: The spell system is based on the GLOG, though I had to tone it down its power a bit. I think its partly my fault as my spells tend to be more powerful or versatile. The 5 mana dice that Goblin Punch awards by level 4, I make it into four at level 9! Their maximum number of spells memorized is five (one at start, other at level 12 and three at differing grades of MAGIC score) which I love because it suits the lore of the Dying Earth books, in which the top mages could at most learn five spells at the same time. Wizards really benefit from a good magic score, so consider swapping your best score into it if you want to play one. Crippling any other score in the process is thematically appropiate.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  2HD and one spell slot.

Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 03: save dice: 1, Can wear a staff (+1 Mana die)

Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 06: save dice: 2, (+1 Mana die)

Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 HD

Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 

Level 09: save dice: 3, (+1 Mana die)

Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 12: save dice: 4, (+1 spell slot)

Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 HD

Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural hd: 11)

Wizards can prepare 1 spell per slot, but can have as many in their spellbook as their level. Until you have more spellbook than slots, you don't need to worry about even having a spellbook.

KOBOLD: +1 AC versus enemies larger than a Trow, and +1 save die versus breath, spells and traps. Their strength is, however, capped at 12.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  2HD, Stealth (on a 5+, Hide in Shadows or Move silently)

Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 03: save dice: 1, +1 HD +1 Stealth dice,

Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 06: save dice: 2, +1 HD, +1 Stealth dice

Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 Background

Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 

Level 09: save dice: 3, +1 HD, +1 Stealth dice,

Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 Background

Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 12: save dice: 4, +1 HD +1 Stealth dice,

Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 Background

Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural hd:12, str increments impossible)

1.3 RANDOM PROGRESSION:

Everybody uses the same progression charts, but advancement is deliberately a bit chaotic so all PCs advance at different times: The requirements are deliberatelly small, but there is a trick: when you have the required XP, spend that amount (substract it from your sheet) and roll d6: On a 4 or more you level up. On a 6 you also raise any attribute by 1.

level 1: 0
level 2: 450
level 3: 900
level 4: 1800
level 5: 3600
level 6: 7000
level 7: 15000
level 8: 30000
level 9: 60000
level 10: 90000
level 11: 120000
level 12: 150000
level 13: 180000
level 14: 210000

The explanation for this rule is given here.

Trow Fortress 00: Prelude; or "Why halflings are kobolds?"

This started as a way to remove damage rolls on BX but still having variable damage, using d6 only. Now, two years later, has shaped my current houserules into something I am very confortable running, and I don't plan on going back. At this point, I don't think I can call it "modified BX" anymore, even though I still keep the book by my side on every session; but mainly I take everything from a small, yellow notebook where I keep my notes.

At this point, the notebook is too big (and also written in spanish hahaha) to be transported to an entry in a single sitting, so I made up my mind to start doing it bit by bit; maybe mimicking BX index to follow some order. It may help to have it written someplace in a "clean" form, in case anybody wants to follow the "camino de la verdadera salud" of the all d6. I will shortly proceed to delete some old posts with obsolete versions of this rules, so there are no confusions for readers. Let this be the preparation of -who knows- a future serious publication. At the very least, this is required reading for anyone in order to understand my houserules from now on.

As my equivalent of an introduction, excuse me if I skip the classic "what is an rpg" section, or forfeit explaining dice nomenclature. I'd rather explain two key parts of the setting. And here it goes:

 

WHAT IS A TROW?

Trow are in all practical and biological ways humans by other name. Humans just do not exist in Trow Fortress. You have Trow; and this might seem non-sensical to you but I can only tell you about my setting as I "perceive" it.

Trow are a warrior race. They organize themselves on feudalistic hierarchies where every city is run by a Lord, which may or may not be supedited to a higher ranked one such as a japanese Shogun; or in opposition to it or other Lords. (Following the feudal japan analogy, the existance of some divine emperor/empress is still something I am figuring out)

Aesthetically, they dress and behave like a mix of Joseon dynasty Korea, the mongol steppe nomads and the cuman warriors. Expect lots of hawks, composite bows, scimitars and lance charges. Even secular trow such as sages or stonemasons have probably been warriors once.

On the other hand, and with the proverbial exceptions, trow women become either housewives and/or take non-warrior professions: healers, artists, artisans, animal trainers... It is common for parents to arrange marriages to secure a good future for their daughters (or, sometimes, use them as a currency for some benefit). The opposite distribution is true for trow magic users, if we take into account that temples and shrines are almost always mantained by priestesses, and that their society will inevitably push young males towards the martial branch.

Trow live in the titular fortresses. Every city is walled, preferably in stone; and holds a castle inside. When possible, the cities are built against a mountain, which allows part of the city to be excavated. Though they are not "paladins" of any sort, they do have unwritten codes of chivalry that speak of their honor, honesty, valor and loyalty (mantaining them is up to each one, or to their "alignment", we could say)

In every feudal arrangement, the most numerous group at the bottom of the caste pyramid is the serfs. Trow do not plow the lands. They use Kobolds for that. The symbiotic relationship of Trow and Kobolds, where the first give protection to the second in exchange of tithes is a constant in the world

 

 

artist unknown

WHAT IS A KOBOLD?

Kobolds are your classical hobbit by other name. I started calling them like that at a given point because it seemed appropiate: thats how germanic peoples called the domestic helpers who lived amongst them; those that could perform trickery, but also house labor and many tasks if treated properly. Well, that's a little bit like how the trow see their kobolds.

This little folk are about 3 feet long (91 cm for euro peoples) who do not actually need trow to survive: They are a rough race which has conquered many wildlands, and you will sometimes find kobolds where no trow has dared to go. I picture them a little bit like the settlers who went to conquer the american west with an axe in one hand and a mule on the other. But you will indefectibly find one of their settlements around any Trow Fortress. 

It is not that they are crazy for breaking their backs, but normally they enjoy the working life; and, when they feel they are being justly compensated, they put love into it. Kobolds know how to grow orchards and how to preserve their fruits; how to grow crops, and how to turn them into bread and brewages. They are good at hunting (preferring the bow) and fishing, and love to build small canoes to do so in big rivers and lakes, installing steady campaments along a river course. Others travel great lands practicing transhumance of buffalos and big goats that are normally mounted by their shepherd. 

Their clothes are usually plain and humble, classically wearing combination of cloaks, viking ponchos and chullo hats. They do not build in stone, but on wood. The central point of their cities is often a wind or a watermill instead of a temple, around which they gather for their seasonal celebrations (that are completelly independent of the trow calendar). Normally a kobold family shares an occupation together. And sometimes, kobolds are sought by trow as personal assistants such as valets, porters or squires. When they do adventure alongside a trow, chances are that is his faithful retainer, though it doesn't have to be the case. Sometimes kobolds form adventuring gangs on their own accord, and is not rare that, given their natural skills to hide in shadows and move silently, some of them turn to crime and theft. 

Note he genesis of Trow and Halflings as a team dates back to this 2012 entry on class-as-race, which now is "semi-canon" lol.

ig: varguy