Original D&D Discussion - Searchers of the Unknown

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May 23, 2013, 8:10pm

Original D&D Discussion :: Community :: OD&D Workshop :: Searchers of the Unknown

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Topic: Searchers of the Unknown (Read 18,806 times)

snorri
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Searchers of the Unknown
« Thread Started on Aug 23, 2009, 11:13am »

http://sites.google.com/site/wizardinabottle/searchers-of-the-unknown

Just another attempt for a very minimalist D&D set of rules. Please playtest and critize

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http://awizardinabottle.blogspot.com/

geordieracer
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #1 on Aug 23, 2009, 12:28pm »

Nice, I'll give this a try !

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greyharp
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #2 on Aug 23, 2009, 3:04pm »

It looks great Nico and all in just one page. I would love to try this.

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ragnorakk
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #3 on Aug 23, 2009, 5:30pm »

Totally wonderful again!
(looks like a very easy quick-start!)

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Finarvyn
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #4 on Aug 23, 2009, 6:48pm »

A nifty little rules set. What font did you use for your title?

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Marv / Finarvyn
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apeloverage
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #5 on Aug 23, 2009, 11:16pm »

You could probably turn this into a game where you play the monsters.

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Teleleli; the people, places, gods and monsters of the great city of Teleleli and the islands around.

snorri
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #6 on Aug 24, 2009, 2:18pm »

Thanks! And thanks to James to have posted it in Grognardia !

The title font is "Pointedly Mad" and you can fin it there :

http://www.dafont.com/pointedly-mad.font

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http://awizardinabottle.blogspot.com/

kuburanar
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #7 on Aug 24, 2009, 3:47pm »

Very cool Snorri. Thanks for this and for the font!

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kesher
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #8 on Aug 24, 2009, 4:02pm »

Holy crap, Snorri! That's both simple and even elegant! I will find some way to playtest these rules.

My only quibble is with the "Magic" paragraph at the end. It doesn't really make sense in that clerics and magic users aren't part of the mix---there's no context, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Not very clearly.

I think that, slightly rewritten to remove D&D-specific language, this would be a truly excellent submission for Fight On!!

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snorri
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #9 on Aug 24, 2009, 5:19pm »

Thanks again! About magic, the whole idea behind is that you could play a module with it. for sure, that means you got allready a good idea of the basics of the D&D world, and love rules 'on the fly'; but that means, even if no PC is a spell-caster, they can meet them as foes or allies (so a few guidelines are useful for the DM). As scrolls could be found in such modules, it seems the idea PC's could use spells from scrolls is logical (it's rooted in the 'thieves use scrolls' base). It makes magic playing still a part of the game, without having spell-casters as PCs.

A quick look on various blogs and forums let seems it was agood idea to release it

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coffee
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #10 on Aug 24, 2009, 5:24pm »

Also there's the precedent that in Dave Arneson's original game all spells had to be found; players didn't start with them.

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burke
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #11 on Aug 27, 2009, 3:41am »

I love these rules! I'm thinking of running a PBEM using them. Exalts snorri!

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The really old-school have character sheets that fit in the signature!

geordieracer
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #12 on Aug 27, 2009, 6:32pm »

These rules would be great to adapt to mass combat - I have a vision of heavily armoured crusaders against Saladin's fast, light troops. Maybe with a modifier for superior terrain. Each 'PC' is equal to so many troops.

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kesher
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #13 on Aug 28, 2009, 10:22am »

Okay, in preparation for Burke's upcoming online game, I was reading the rules a little more closely, and I have another question.

As it stands, I'm not sure why, other than purely color reasons, why I would pick any kind of weapon other than a 2-hander for my character? I mean, if I can do 1d10 damage with no other sort of penalty (well, I guess I couldn't use a shield, but that seems minor...), why wouldn't I, especially if at 5th level I can attack twice a round for 1d10, and if I kill a foe, I might well do another1d10?

This probably only occurred to me because I've been reading the Holmes rules, wherein 2-h weapons attack every other round, and small weapons like daggers actually attack twice, with initiative being determined by dexterity, which I think is an interesting trade-off in terms of potential damage vs. the chance of hitting mixed with an initially random attribute score.

Now, part of what I'm loving about SotU is its austerity, so I'm not suggesting adding anything, but what about something like:

Quote:

Weapon Initiative Mod
Small: +2
Medium: +0
Large: -2

So initiative becomes 1d10+WM+AC. Maybe it's unnecessary, but I thought I'd bring it up. Also, the movement rate seems a bit severe---someone wearing platemail is going to creep along at an almost absurd speed. I'd be inclined to either bump all rates up by two, or simply not penalize anyone's movement rate when wearing leather armor.

That being said, I have to comment again on how elegant these rules are. Thy really highlight level as the main attribute of play, and I think that rocks. Actually, as I write this, it occurs to me that level might be a good addition to initiative as well, even without the WM---maybe a +1 to initiative every other level? That would make initiative more in line with how level affects everything else...

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"He was one hundred seventy days dying and not yet dead."

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giantbat
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Re: Searchers of the Unknown
« Reply #14 on Aug 30, 2009, 1:34am »

Snorri, I am loving Searchers of the Unknown. For my own use, I want to be able to print it as a small booklet, so I made the attached file. No changes to the text, just a new layout. I'm posting it in case anyone else would find it useful. I hope there is no prohibition on attaching files instead of linking them, and that I am not being rude by sharing a reformat of someone else's work.

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