Monday, November 9, 2020

Creating a Character

 The dual-city of Cothon-Gadeed lies on the coast, bounded by Dirac's Sea to the north, across which her fleet of galleys ply their trade in competition against the cogs of the northern Hanse; and bounded to the south by the great inland plain of the Sahr, wandered by the nomadic tribes of the Kzinti and Mrrsha Lion-Men. The harbor-city of Cothon is connected to the mother-city of Gadeed by a processional corridor between the Long Walls.

To the east stands the lonely coastal tower called the Migdol of the Dyers and Fish-Fermenters, and beyond that the ruins of Qadeem in the shadow of the Tel Al-Safeena, a huge and ancient mound built up from before memory by the fortifications of Men, Klackons, Alkari, and others. The mound is so ancient that none remember a time before it, and it is overlaid with the accretions of centuries, hiding many secrets and ancient treasures, wonders, and horrors ...

Unto this city therefore, and to the Tel within which fortunes may be made (or broken), the adventurous types of the Ten-Cities' League (the Decapolis) come, season after season, to try their sword-hands within the Tel, to become fabulously wealthy if they succeed. From the Balad-cities to the east, from Chora-towns to the west, and from the Hanse-cities across the sea ...


Roll Ability Scores

To create a character, you will roll 3d6 and add them together, first for Strength, and thence in order of Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma.

Ability scores of 15 or greater will convey a +1 bonus to:

  • Strength: melee "to hit" rolls and damage rolls; +10% xp for Fighting-Men
  • Intelligence: all "to hit" rolls; +10% xp for Magic-Users
  • Wisdom: saving throw rolls and armor class
  • Dexterity: missile "to hit" rolls and armor class
  • Constitution: hit dice rolls and saving throws
  • Charisma: reaction rolls (when encountering or negotiating with other creatures or characters)
 Low scores do not incur any penalty.


Roll for Psionic Ability

Any character created with a score 15 or higher in INT, WIS, or CHA is eligible to roll for psionic ability. This is a percentile roll; a score of 15 in one of the stated abilities equals a 1% chance (i.e. a roll of 00 on d100). Each score of 15 is a cumulative 1%, and each point higher than 15 is a further cumulative 1%, so a character with INT 15, WIS 12, CHA 17 has a total 4% chance to be psionic, i.e. 96-00 (1 from INT, 3 from CHA).

This roll is performed only once at character creation. If the roll indicates psionic ability it's a whole thing, we'll figure it out referee-to-player.


Roll for "Original" Skill

This represents what your character knew before turning to adventuring as a means to advancement (hence "original"), and thus the kind of trade they would be easily able to pursue to earn a bit of cash outside of the Tel or adventuring in general.

Roll a d6 for category, and then roll for one of the following skills:

  • 1-3 Plebeian (d16: baker, butcher, carpenter, cooper, dyer, farmer, fisherman, glass-blower, hunter, merchant, miner, potter, sail-maker, tanner, weaver, wine-maker)
  • 4-5 Skilled (d12: animal-trainer, armorer, blacksmith, fletcher, goldsmith, guide, sailor, scribe, shipwright, ship-captain, slaver, swimmer/diver)
  • 6 Noble (d12: alchemist, artist/sculptor, assassin/spy/tracker, botanist, dancer, engineer/architect, interpreter, mathematician, orator, physician, poet/musician, scholar)
Most of these skills should be self-explanatory. They can be used in "downtime" from week to week to possibly earn income (though nothing compared to the riches of adventuring!), and other special uses can be easily worked out between intrepid players and the referee.
Feel free to ask questions pertinent to your skills!


Select a Class

Adventuring Humans in the setting of the Decapolis have two class options available to them: Fighting-Man (or Fighting-Woman) or Magic-User. Non-humans (e.g. Kzinti, Klackons, Alkari, etc.) will be available to be selected by players once I have written them, and feel comfortable as a referee in admitting them to the game.

  • Fighting-Men are as per "Fighters" in B/X D&D, i.e. their hit die is a d8, they may wear any armor and use any weapon, and they are natural leaders of hirelings and henchmen; as a special particular their bonuses from shields are doubled, and same can be "gifted" to other characters in the same rank/characters adjacent to the Fighter
  • Magic-Users however, are distinct from their typical old-school D&D prototypes; in this game their hit die is a d6, they are allowed to wear light armor (a linothorax or an aketon--i.e. "leather armor"), to wield weapons and shields (though a free hand is still required to cast spells), and they are allowed to pick spells for their "spellbook" from either the Magic-User or Cleric spell lists; otherwise, they function as B/X Magic-Users in regard to memorization of spells per day

Further Items of Note
  • starting gold is 3d6 x 10; typical adventuring gear and armaments are available at the listed prices in Cothon (light sources are required for any adventure into the underworld of the Tel!)
  • hit dice will be re-rolled each level, though the total will never be less than it was previously; e.g. a fighter of 1st level with 6 hit points advances to level 2; he now rolls 2d8; unfortunately, he gets a 2 and a 3! He thus retains 6 hit points, but on attaining the 3rd level, he will roll 3d8 (and hopefully have more luck)
  • characters brought to 0 hit points through combat damage are not killed outright, but laid low; they may be revived through expeditious first aid (and generally able to act only after the combat), but in being revived, lose a hit die, i.e. a 2nd level fighter, revived after a brutal fight, rerolls hit points with only 1d8 (and may not have higher hit points than he had before being laid low); 1st level characters are perforce dead when so laid low ...
  • except, never forget Jeff's Bargain!
  • level drain, if it happens, will be similar to the above, i.e. hit dice loss, not experience loss; hit dice lost either way is permanent unless healed in some way
  • shields provide a bonus of 1 to either AC or "to hit" in any one round (doubled for Fighting-Men)
  • speaking of AC (armor class), I'm using Descending AC, so unarmored is 9, and every "bonus" to AC lowers it
  • "Ability Checks", or "performing an action not covered in the rules" will be either a roll of a d20, with success being equal to or less-than the character's relevant ability score, OR a die roll with odds adjudged by the referee (but likely "success on a 1 or a 2 on a d6")--you may argue for either, whichever is better for the character in question, and the referee will probably agree
  • speaking of "rules", I'll generally be following B/X D&D's rules for exploration, combat, reactions, etc., etc. if you want to "brush up" on what's going on (OSE closely follows B/X)

Time!

Time will pass at the same rate in the game world as it does in the real world; each week we spend our lives toiling, our characters will spend in the dual-city of Cothon-Gadeed (or beyond, if called to some other task).

Each such week, characters are able to delve into the Tel once, as well as performing one "downtime" activity. A second delve into the Tel would count for that character's "downtime" for that week, if it comes to pass ...

"Downtime" activities will perforce include carousing!, but also be drawn from Ben L.'s excellent series of ideas (which Nick K. has also expanded on ... these guys are brilliant):

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