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Post by jakdethe on Feb 13, 2013 15:04:53 GMT -6
Does anyone print them out (particularly in digest format, as seems to be the community's favorite)? I'd love to have more booklets to add to my collection. Yes, indeed, I do! (tidy little stack in the privvy.) Fantastic! Any suggestions?
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 13, 2013 0:39:55 GMT -6
I'd print them up at home like the OD&D booklets at a lot of people do.
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 12, 2013 22:26:59 GMT -6
What you might want to do to prevent the band of murder hobos is finding a way of encouraging chivalry. Essentially emphasize that the characters are knights, they are powerful, and have a duty to protect the weak. After the fall of Rome, the church basically made knight's swear to protect the weak as it was Christ's law, and doing such would gain them entrance to heaven.
While the Crusades encouraged the killing of "infidels" the original (at least propagated) reason was to save christians in the middle east who were being slaughtered. If you can find a way of expressing the idea that the holy-land has been retaken, and it's the player's responsibilities of protecting it, and upholding Christ's ideals of peace. This isn't necessarily easy, or the only way of going about it, but it's a way that would historically make sense on a philosophical level, even if it's not what was actually happening.
You could have the various orders, or factions you want, garner various benefits for the way player's handle things. Use alignments in conjunction with your orders, almost treating the orders like deities. In fact you could play up the idea of Saints and Angels, granting miracles, much in the fashion clerics gain their spells, but allow small bonuses or abilities.
For example (keep in mind this is in no way historical, I'm just tossing out some fun ideas):
Knights Templars: Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, King Solomon was a king known for his wisdom, as such any member of a Templar order is protected against any charm, mind control, or sleep type attacks.
Knight Hospitallers: Knights of St. John are known to provide care for the sick and poor, as such members of this order my heal a certain amount of hit points (possibly determined by level) per day.
Saint Michael: The leader of God's armies, those who pray to Michael the Archangel and call him patron receive a bonus to damage once a day (possibly determined by level).
These are just a couple examples I could think up. Hopefully it gives you some ideas.
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 11, 2013 8:34:01 GMT -6
Does anyone print them out (particularly in digest format, as seems to be the community's favorite)? I'd love to have more booklets to add to my collection.
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 11, 2013 8:31:48 GMT -6
I checked my stats and it says most of my page views have come from here. I've gotten a few comments so far, and even if they're not from here, thanks for viewing guys! It's to know someone's at least reading what I'm posting.
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 9, 2013 20:14:52 GMT -6
Awesome booklet Aplus, I love the retro-d&d look everyone seems to be doing (I've been tempted myself.). Especially the "Supplement LXXXVI" part.
Definitely adding to my collection of booklet rules!
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 8, 2013 7:30:32 GMT -6
This is a cool thread, but I must confess that I don't spend so much time worrying about historical accuracy. If I was to run a Crusades campaign, I'd just define some knight and paladin character classes, find a map of the region and let the players go fight some infidels. I like the concept of historical accuracy, but don't have the energy to make it all happen. That map of Europe is pretty sweet, by the way! I have to agree with this. I've found players don't appreciate the depth of history I do, so giving them the feel of the crusades is the best option (at least in my case). Focus on the heroics of the crusades (no-one wants to be the villain, at least not in this case): escorting merchants, redemption, freeing captured towns, etc... Unless of course you're players are also history nuts (in which case I'd be very envious).
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 8, 2013 0:13:17 GMT -6
The approach I've taken is to make a Players Reference booklet that's primarily for character creation and level-up. My campaign is B/X and in addition to the core races/classes, I've added a few, and tweaked some others. Nothing extreme, just house-rule type stuff. I've laid it all out in a booklet with a page per class - brief description, class abilities and the tables with XP, HP, spells, turning, etc. included for up to 5th level. Also in there are the equipment charts and a few other odds and ends. Print out a few copies and throw them on the table while your playing and they won't need the actual rulebooks for anything. I will eventually work up a book with all the spells, but no rush on that one. Edit to add: My format is actually very much inspired by a booklet Aplus did, back when he ran his Outland campaign using B/X (it's now DCC). It was on his site back in the day - you could ask him to reshare it. This is pretty much exactly what I've been doing since I've started DMing. Cool to know someone else has the same thought. As for spells I made a pretty cool spell book with all the castles and crusades spells. If I can get some batteries for my camera, I'll post some pictures of it.
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 7, 2013 12:43:42 GMT -6
Nice! Have an exalt for that hex map. Very cool. Awesome, thank you! My first exalt!
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 6, 2013 22:35:44 GMT -6
I found this a week ago and thought it was pretty awesome. admc.pbworks.com/f/admc_large_32x28h.pngGranted its about 50 to 100 years after the first crusade, it's still a great resource none the less. Simply having a hex outline of Europe is great I'd imagine.
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 6, 2013 22:33:14 GMT -6
If you can get your hands on a copy of the reference sheets, that's useful, too. My holy grail if you will (that and the Monsters & Treasures collections). I've searched and searched, but alas, I can never find it.
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 6, 2013 1:07:34 GMT -6
I did the same thing (printed out my own copies of the originals). Are they easy enough to play from? (I've never attempted myself).
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 5, 2013 17:48:46 GMT -6
Excellent stuff! I'll keep all this in mind when I'm making my campaign's house rules. I like you're idea for the Men & Magic booklets.
Right now I've made a booklet based off S&W inspired by Holme's.
Also what do you guys use to play OD&D? Prints of the LBB's, S&W, etc...?
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 5, 2013 13:54:30 GMT -6
So you're suggesting a bare bones kind of document akin to how Greyhawk and Blackmoor were set up? Just showing the differences really? (No point in restating rules I suppose).
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 5, 2013 11:48:16 GMT -6
Does anyone else suffer from the dread malady of house rules-itis? And what, praytell, is the cure? I didn't want to resurrect a dead thread, but I've always wondered, not what the cure is, but how does one cope? How do you guys organize your house rules? I ended up writing a game in and of itself as was discussed, but I wonder if there is an easier method than writing an entire book when, like myself, you have so many house rules to keep up with. Particularly house rules that alter the core of the game (such as class progressions and abilities, etc...).
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 5, 2013 11:33:22 GMT -6
Well I'm very reluctant to do this, I had wanted to post more before advertising anything I'd done, but my camera is dead (I have some cool reproductions I wanted to post) and I don't have much else interesting to show you guys. So here is a little shameless self promotion on my part. arcaneretro.blogspot.com/It's my blog discussing the new retroclone I made, and other OSR-related subjects. Though I haven't had a chance to post much, I do have a download link to a pdf of my game if anyone is interested in looking at it. Some feedback would be great, and highly appreciated. Thanks for your time! (Hopefully I can have some pics of my other gaming ephemera up soon enough)
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 5, 2013 11:29:41 GMT -6
Hey, jakdethe! Isn't it just annoying how Real Life seems to think it has priority over gaming? We look forward to your comments! Completely agreed! Glad to be amongst like minded people, who have the same problems
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Post by jakdethe on Feb 1, 2013 10:42:48 GMT -6
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Post by jakdethe on Jan 31, 2013 11:23:36 GMT -6
Greetings everyone.
I'm not quite sure how to start of an introduction, but here it is. I've been registered since last year, but moving around frequently, and work, have kept me from visiting and posting. However I want to start to be more active with the old school community, and figured od&d forums are a great place to start.
I've been playing wargames since I was 8 years old, and RPG's since I was 16 thanks to my dad. I love old school D&D, particularly OD&D and 1E. I look forward to taking part in such a great community.
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