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Post by Scott Anderson on Feb 14, 2015 14:39:48 GMT -6
Treasure Hunters started as a what-if exercise: what if OD&D was written using only six-sided dice? That seemed easy enough. And for a lot of the technical stuff, it is pretty easy. There are some differences- armor class and to-hit numbers vary a little. However as I went along, I found a number of things I wanted to bring in from Holmes, B/X, BECM and even some elements of modern retro-clones. When we play "D&D" at my house with my son, my wife, and my daughter we use the Treasure Hunters rules. It works fine for us, but lately I have wondered how it would work at other tables where "dad" isn't there to issue rulings. It's not a finished game; most notably, the monster stats are only about 1/3 done. Certainly there are many parts which are unclear, contradictory, or that could use some adjustment. Right now, my goal is to be able to release a very small run of boxed sets before Christmas with original art, with two booklets and dice. I would probably self-finance the initial run but kickstarter is a possibility too. Before that happens i need to get some play testers to tear it apart and find what's wrong with it. Rather than update this thread as we go, I will direct your attention to the stable home of the PDFs for both the player's rules book and the referee's companion: treasurehuntersrpg.blogspot.com/?m=1
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Post by tetramorph on Feb 14, 2015 15:22:29 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2015 13:42:24 GMT -6
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Post by Scott Anderson on Feb 15, 2015 18:44:04 GMT -6
Ive edited the OP to reflect a stable link for the newest versions.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2015 5:39:06 GMT -6
Ive edited the OP to reflect a stable link for the newest versions. I've updated things to take this into account.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Feb 18, 2015 2:04:44 GMT -6
WRITER WANTED...
I cannot stand writing monster listings. Dunno why. It's been holding up production for about a week now; but I actually started monsters maybe two months ago.
I don't have much else to write for the first draft of the referee's companion. It's just about done. But the d**n monster stat blocks are holding me back.
I'm willing to offer co-author credit and two points (if it ever generates any revenue) to anyone who will write the monsters from F-Z alphabetically. A-E are done, save the demons.
The format is set; the descriptions are meant to be really short. I just don't want to write them up!
PM me here or on DF if you like writing monster entries.
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Post by scottenkainen on Feb 18, 2015 9:39:47 GMT -6
I hear you, Other Scott. I love getting my ideas written/typed up in front of me, but formatting, and squeezing things into little tables? That stuff kills me, time-wise. Good luck!
Sincerely, Scott "-enkainen" Casper
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2015 19:52:57 GMT -6
What rules? OD&D style?
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Post by Scott Anderson on Feb 18, 2015 22:09:45 GMT -6
Mr. Mornard, it's a rule set unto itself but much in the spirit of the LBBs. I would be honored to send it to you so you can tell me what needs improvement.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Feb 21, 2015 0:17:18 GMT -6
I have put monster stat block out to another person for the weekend to see whether they are interested in writing them after seeing them. In the meantime, I started to rewrite my basic D&d version of the game: treasure hunters precis edition.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Feb 22, 2015 22:25:22 GMT -6
so, work on the Referee's Companion is stalled at the moment. On the other hand, I had two copies of the Player's Guide printed at Staples and they look and feel great. It's gratifying, whether they are published or not, that I can hold my own work in my hands and show it to my family &c. So being without a project at the moment, I turned back to the precis edition, to re-write it based on what I've learned in the last nine months. It's really embryonic, but if you're interested, this is what I have so far: drive.google.com/file/d/0B_0ONkhGdLg8cFRTZDlFdTBFc2M/view?usp=sharing
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Post by Vile Traveller on Feb 23, 2015 1:33:08 GMT -6
Could you explain again what your different projects are? I got a little lost.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Feb 23, 2015 6:31:26 GMT -6
Thanks for giving me the opportunity, Vile. It's confusing because there are actually three different games called Treasure Hunters.
Almost a year ago, I wrote up a slim game called Treasure Hunters Précis Edition. It's got a lot of holes in it. But it's based on B/X.
At the moment, I have Treasure Hunters Prolix Edition. It is like OD&D with elements from other versions. What's differet about it is it only uses six sided dice. It also has extensive rules for domain management and mass combat. The players guide is finished and the referee's guide is about half done. Another person has expressed interest in writing up some monsters, and he's looking it over now.
In the mean time, I went back to the Precis Edition, and I'm rewriting it from scratch more or less.
All three are just for fun, although I think I've got something good in the Prolix Edition that some folks might conveivably want to own. To that end, I expect to commission some nice art and have it laid out professionally. I am still looking for some play testers to tear it apart and show me what needs to be fixed or improved.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Jul 18, 2016 8:46:09 GMT -6
It's as finished as it's going to be. There are still typos and I'm not happy with the naval and aerial rules. I'll fix them in the next fantasy heartbreaker I'm writing. You can find it in digital for free at the link in my signature, and you can find it it in hardcopy nowhere. It's just for fun. The copyright is just for fun. Print it up or steal from it; I would be honored.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2016 9:14:53 GMT -6
It's as finished as it's going to be. There are still typos and I'm not happy with the naval and aerial rules. I'll fix them in the next fantasy heartbreaker I'm writing. You can find it in digital for free at the link in my signature, and you can find it it in hardcopy nowhere. It's just for fun. The copyright is just for fun. Print it up or steal from it; I would be honored. Great news! I updated my copy. I am looking forward to seeing your next project.
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Post by Mike on Jul 21, 2016 22:54:23 GMT -6
I've been waiting for this baby for an age. Thank you so much!
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Post by Scott Anderson on Jul 22, 2016 14:17:39 GMT -6
Next project: A proper retroclone. Something in the mold of Holmes/Marsh/Mentzer. Done with the core rules. The lists (treasure, monsters) and lots of other ancillary-but-important stuff to come.
There's no link to the new manuscript because it changes daily but I will send you a copy of whatever the latest version is if you email me: sanderson2208@gmail.com
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jul 23, 2016 6:35:10 GMT -6
Next project: A proper retroclone. Something in the mold of Holmes/Marsh/Mentzer. Could you give us a bit more information? Is this a combination of your preferred parts of the three aformentioned rules sets? Or something like the Rules Cyclopedia / Dark Dungeons? Or something else? EDIT: Oh, and you should probably start a new thread, then!
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Post by Scott Anderson on Jul 23, 2016 7:38:51 GMT -6
No new thread. I don't feel like clogging up Marv's board with my vanity projects!
This one is written in a much more accessible way. There are a few lesser-used rules I left out. The rules that are there are structured around time periods (Round, Turn, Day and downtime) and spelled out well. If it has one parent, it's the Steve Marsh B/X, but the prose is more in line with Mentzer. The monsters will be Holmes, but I'm going to throw in a whole group of one hit point monsters and a large number of kinds of humans. Maybe 120 monsters in all. The target audience is 8-12 year olds.
The particular choices I made on the front end look like this:
A unified attack matrix and saving throw matrix. Very clean chart that is mostly from OD&D. Ability modifiers and XP adjustments from Menzter. Seven classes including race-as-class most classes only have 12 levels, excluding Elf (10) and Hobbit (8). Different dice for hit dice, but all 1d6 for weapon damage. Six MU spell levels, 5 Cleric spell levels. Magic item tables that are simple and not shaded too heavily toward Fighters. Lots and lots of good advice about how to generate dungeons and wilderness areas, and how to describe your dungeons so people don't get lost due to your descriptions. Superb jousting rules (because jousting is fun) and no rules about naval or aerial combat (because I cant come up with fun simple rules for them. Still trying).
EDIT: If it wasn't meant to be a loving retroclone, I might go with two classes and three races for simplicity's sake. 7 Voyages omits the Cleric to fine effect, and we all have a favorite example of games without Thieves.
EDIT: Maybe do some research into wargames to see if I can find short rules for naval battles that aren't too crazy. But TBH, probably not. It's just too many column inches to eat up for a peripheral activity like piracy. But for my pirates game... muahaha
Probably more. I'm not keeping a running tab on what everything is; It's just for fun.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jul 23, 2016 10:34:54 GMT -6
The monsters will be Holmes, but I'm going to throw in a whole group of one hit point monsters and a large number of kinds of humans. Maybe 120 monsters in all. The target audience is 8-12 year olds. Have you considered going with the monster list in the Holmes Manuscript? That had more "man-types" in it than the published book. No new thread. I don't feel like clogging up Marv's board with my vanity projects! Marv won't mind.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Jul 23, 2016 19:29:48 GMT -6
No, I hadn't known that there were more man-types in his manuscript. I'll see what Zenopus can put to me.
Here are the Man-Types I want to include:
Amazons, maybe Assassins Bandits Barbarians Berserkers and vikings Black Knights Buccaneers, priates and privateers Cavemen Dervishes Druids, maybe Dwarves and Gnomes Elves Evil Priests Half-Elves Hobbits Lycans: Bears Boars Rats Tigers and Wolves Mermen Nomads Orcish Paladins Prisoners Rangers of the North Witches Wizards, magi and archmagi
Whew, that's 33, counting the subtypes.
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 23, 2016 23:54:16 GMT -6
The other Man-Types in the Monster List in the Holmes Manuscript are Buccaneers, Cave Men, Dervishes, Mermen, Nomads and Pirates, IIRC. All from OD&D Vol 2, and you've got them all on your list. Holmes also mentions Brigands once in the text (kept in the published version).
Other possibilities would be the NPC professions from OD&D such as Armorer, Sage, Scribe, Alchemist, etc.
The Monster Manual added a few new Man-Types, including Merchant, Pilgrim and Tribesman.
B/X added the various NPC classes as types in the Monster list (Acolyte, Medium, Veteran) plus some others like Noble and Trader.
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Post by Scott Anderson on Jul 26, 2016 20:44:16 GMT -6
I would love to do all the Men I listed before, but I sat down to do them, and remembered how much I hate writing monster stat blocks. The lore part I like, but the stat blocks are tedious!
Here is the new list of Odd Men. It contains 14 categories with 23 total entries:
Anti-Cleric (acolyte, prelate, Evil High Priest) Bandit Barbarian Berserker (see Viking) Bounder Buccaneers Marines and Pirates (N, L, C) Caveman Druid Dwarf and Gnome Elf Evil Fighter (veteran, villain, black knight) Evil Magi (initiate, magi, necromancer) Orcish Ranger of the North Viking
Here is the tentative list of Monsters, which should look about 99% familiar to everyone. It's 75 entries:
basilisk black pudding bugbear carrion crawler chimera djinn and efreet doppleganger dragon white, black, red, green, blue and golden fire beetle gargoyle gelatinous cube ghoul giant hill, stone, frost, fire, cloud, giant ant giant centipede giant rats giant tick gnoll goblin The Gorgon gray ooze green slime griffon harpy hell hound hippogriff hobgoblin horse light, medium, heavy, draft, mules The Hydra kobold lycans wereboar, wererat, werebear, weretiger, werewolf manticora The Medusa minotaur mummy ochre jelly ogre owl bear pegasus pixies and fairies purple worm Oxidation beast shadow shrieker skeleton Nagzul spider large, huge, giant stirge The Seven Titans troglodyte troll unicorn vampire wight wraith yellow mold zombie
That's 98 entries, which still feels like 10 marathons! But I'm under no pressure, temporal or otherwise.
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