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Original D&D Discussion :: Community :: Carcosa :: Mushgnome's Chainmail Carcosa :: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
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AuthorTopic: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA! (Read 1,270 times)
mushgnome
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PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Thread Started on Apr 13, 2011, 8:49am »
Have you ever wanted to hack the tentacles off a Lovecraftian horror, hunt Mi-Go from dinosaur-back, or lead your Bone Man army against Great Cthulhu and his minions? (Good luck with that last one!)

Together at last: Chainmail, the perplexing 1974 proto-D&D combat system, and Supplement V: Carcosa, Geoffrey McKinney's surreal and brutal campaign setting. We won't be playing a miniatures wargame per se, but rather exploring the premise: what would Supplement V look like if the d20-based "alternate combat system" did not exist, and Chainmail had evolved into "the" D&D combat system?

No prior knowledge of Carcosa or Chainmail is necessary. We'll be starting off slowly and introducing each sub-set of the rules as it comes up in play. House rules will be added sparingly as needed.

We'll be using a lightly expurgated version of the rules (sorry, no baby-killing!) but players should expect lots of cosmic horror, mind-blowing plot twists, and a high body count. I have a few tricks up my sleeve with regards to the campaign setting, so even if you've played Carcosa before, you've never played it quite like this!

This is a feeler for interested players; if there is enough interest (the more the merrier; due to Chainmail's scalability I am not placing a cap on number of players) we can get started!
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HIT POINTS
Gedsil Troke: 5/5, Josh Honwill: 8/8, Brecon Smout: 5/9, A'Poth: 1/6, Besnik Zim: 3/4, Lupe Royce: 1/2, Bremusa 3/5, Prof. Francis Delapore 6/7, Casamir Whipple 5/6, John Talbot 2/5
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #1 on Apr 13, 2011, 9:25am »
I do love me some mutated dinosaurs.

count me in.
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mushgnome
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #2 on Apr 13, 2011, 9:40am »

Apr 13, 2011, 9:25am, tombowings wrote:
I do love me some mutated dinosaurs.

count me in.


Glad to have you on board, Tombowings! Your PbP Carcosa game was one of my main inspirations for this project.

I will extend the offer to any of Tom's former players, if you want to re-use your PC from his game, that is OK with me! Same goes for former players in the Dubeers game (powered-down to 1st level of course). :)
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HIT POINTS
Gedsil Troke: 5/5, Josh Honwill: 8/8, Brecon Smout: 5/9, A'Poth: 1/6, Besnik Zim: 3/4, Lupe Royce: 1/2, Bremusa 3/5, Prof. Francis Delapore 6/7, Casamir Whipple 5/6, John Talbot 2/5
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #3 on Apr 13, 2011, 9:46am »
I was sad to see that game die before its time :( I had some good fun in store for you all. But I'm always happy to see more Carcosa on these boards.

I'm especially curious how you plan to mesh (if at all) the Carcosa style variable weapon damage and hit points with Chainmail.


Edit: I can post a recruitment message on my blog if you'd like, too, later today.
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mushgnome
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #4 on Apr 13, 2011, 10:26am »

Apr 13, 2011, 9:46am, tombowings wrote:
I'm especially curious how you plan to mesh (if at all) the Carcosa style variable weapon damage and hit points with Chainmail.


House rules will evolve through actual play. Here's how I plan to run things:

In mass combat, ordinary Men and creatures of 1HD or less do not have individual hit points. 1 hit = 1 kill.

For PCs and creatures/NPCs with at least 1+1 HD, hit dice/hit points work exactly as described in Carcosa. For those who don't own Carcosa, here is a brief summary:

Hit points are rolled at the beginning of each combat. Roll d10 to determine which size dice are used (1-2 = d4, 3-4 = d6, 5-6 = d8, 7-8 = d10, 9-0 = d12). This means a 1st level PC (1+1 HD) will have between 2 and 13 hit points for that battle.

Damage for all weapons is rolled using the same random dice mechanic: a hit inflicts anywhere from d4 to d12 damage.

Healing in Carcosa is a bit weird, we'll go into the details once we get started, but in a nutshell, minor damage (less than your highest HD) is healed instantly at the end of combat, and major damage reduces your HD until you can rest and heal. For example if you roll 8+1 = 9 hp, you can take up to 7 damage with no permanent injury, 8 damage reduces you to 0+1 HD (1 hp), and 9+ damage you're in trouble.


Apr 13, 2011, 9:46am, tombowings wrote:
Edit: I can post a recruitment message on my blog if you'd like, too, later today.


That'd be awesome, thanks! :)
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HIT POINTS
Gedsil Troke: 5/5, Josh Honwill: 8/8, Brecon Smout: 5/9, A'Poth: 1/6, Besnik Zim: 3/4, Lupe Royce: 1/2, Bremusa 3/5, Prof. Francis Delapore 6/7, Casamir Whipple 5/6, John Talbot 2/5
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #5 on Apr 13, 2011, 11:14am »
Oh and one more thing, if anyone is interested in a Carcosa PbP but NOT Chainmail, I'd still be curious to hear from you.

If there is not enough interest in the Chainmail aspect of what I'm planning, we could just as easily run the adventures I've planned as "classic" D&D.
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HIT POINTS
Gedsil Troke: 5/5, Josh Honwill: 8/8, Brecon Smout: 5/9, A'Poth: 1/6, Besnik Zim: 3/4, Lupe Royce: 1/2, Bremusa 3/5, Prof. Francis Delapore 6/7, Casamir Whipple 5/6, John Talbot 2/5
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #6 on Apr 13, 2011, 11:54am »
I'm interested as unfortunately, Ronin's game was terminated. How would you handle the PCs involved in mass combat?
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mushgnome
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #7 on Apr 13, 2011, 12:13pm »

Apr 13, 2011, 11:54am, chicagowiz wrote:
I'm interested as unfortunately, Ronin's game was terminated. How would you handle the PCs involved in mass combat?


Glad to have you on board!

I imagine our first several combats will be 1:1 scale. PCs are assigned a "fighting capability" based on their level and equipment, for example a 1st level PC fights as "1 man + 1." Each "kill" (usually a roll of 6) does 1 (variable) die of damage, except vs. opponents with 1HD or less, who are killed outright.

Eventually it will be fun to try some 1:20 scale combats. There are a couple of different ways to handle this; for example the PCs could engage the enemy leaders Man-to-Man while the troops duke it out on the Mass Combat table. The hex descriptions in Carcosa practically beg for this approach ("a village of 60 orange men led by 'The Lawyer of All Rules' an 8th level Superhero").

Don't worry too much about details right now. If/when the game gets off the ground, we'll have a massive "out-of-character rules and house rules" thread. For now I am just recruiting....
« Last Edit: Apr 13, 2011, 1:40pm by mushgnome »Link to Post - Back to Top  IP: Logged
HIT POINTS
Gedsil Troke: 5/5, Josh Honwill: 8/8, Brecon Smout: 5/9, A'Poth: 1/6, Besnik Zim: 3/4, Lupe Royce: 1/2, Bremusa 3/5, Prof. Francis Delapore 6/7, Casamir Whipple 5/6, John Talbot 2/5
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #8 on Apr 13, 2011, 2:47pm »
The Big Brown Book has an interesting take on that. 1st level characters being a part of a unit would share in that unit's battles, and they would die at 1 "kill" - I'm probably going to allow for a Save vs. Death to see if that kill actually translates into PC death. So it would be risky business! 2nd level PCs get 2 "hits" and so on.

This book also does a nice job of restating Chainmail into clearer, more organized language. Now admittedly, he does do a couple of things that I might not agree with, but it's an interesting take on clarifying the rules.
http://feysquare.com/?page_id=84

Glad to be aboard!
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"Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" (The battlecry of the 13.7 rebels, aka "the ten-percenters")
mushgnome
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #9 on Apr 13, 2011, 3:42pm »
Thanks for the Brown Book link, Chicagowiz. I will pore over it for any good ideas we can borrow for the campaign. On first glance I can say with confidence we will not be using the d66 mechanic or "PCs die with the unit" rule.

I will also be relying heavily on the rules discussed in these threads:
http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=chainmail&action=display&thread=2099
http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=chainmail&action=display&thread=4100
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HIT POINTS
Gedsil Troke: 5/5, Josh Honwill: 8/8, Brecon Smout: 5/9, A'Poth: 1/6, Besnik Zim: 3/4, Lupe Royce: 1/2, Bremusa 3/5, Prof. Francis Delapore 6/7, Casamir Whipple 5/6, John Talbot 2/5
Professor P
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #10 on Apr 13, 2011, 4:12pm »
While have never read Carcosa and have only a limited understanding of Chainmail, I'll give it a whirl.

If anything, it will make me sit and try to comprehend Chainmail, something I've been meaning to do anyway.
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mushgnome
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #11 on Apr 13, 2011, 5:06pm »

Apr 13, 2011, 4:12pm, Professor P wrote:
While have never read Carcosa and have only a limited understanding of Chainmail, I'll give it a whirl.

If anything, it will make me sit and try to comprehend Chainmail, something I've been meaning to do anyway.


Welcome Professor!

Don't worry about never having read Carcosa. I'll explain the basics when we get to the character generation phase. If anything, it will make the game more fun not knowing any spoilers.

I have a few plot twists planned so even experienced Carcosa players will be surprised.
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HIT POINTS
Gedsil Troke: 5/5, Josh Honwill: 8/8, Brecon Smout: 5/9, A'Poth: 1/6, Besnik Zim: 3/4, Lupe Royce: 1/2, Bremusa 3/5, Prof. Francis Delapore 6/7, Casamir Whipple 5/6, John Talbot 2/5
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #12 on Apr 13, 2011, 7:46pm »
I would love to be a part of this - please count me in! I really enjoy Chainmail and have been fascinated to learn more about Carcosa.
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #13 on Apr 13, 2011, 8:22pm »
I'm interested, as well!
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Re: PbP recruiting: CHAINMAIL CARCOSA!
« Reply #14 on Apr 13, 2011, 10:23pm »
Running a game was too much for me, but I'd love to get back in the saddle as a player. I've had PCs in previous CARCOSA games, but I'll start fresh for this one.
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A blog: http://thedoomedworldcarcosa.wordpress.com/
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