by ejclason

Sometime into my first campaign as a DM, I located it in the World of Greyhawk. Not that it mattered much, that first campaign was just dungeon crawling and going back to town to resupply and maybe have some characters advance in level.

by StevoBevoDevo

An item RPG Item: Level 0 Adventures has been added to the geeklist Geeklist Red Ridge Table 2026

by big_booboo

Related Item: White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game

Yes, White Box has reaction and morale checks. However, the morale checks don't work like other systems I am familiar with, namely AD&D 2 and Basic Fantasy RPG. Instead, the morale check is stylistically very similar to the reaction check. I actually prefer the AD&D morale system.

Anyway, I suspect that for hack-and-slash style games to work solo, they have to be approached differently. If I try it again, I will skip the exposition and go straight to the random encounters and random treasure. Why spend time building up a story when your protagonist can be taken out at any time?

by Chinkster

Related Item: White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game

Does White Box have reaction and morale rolls?

I’ve been watching videos on the Tenkar’s Tavern channel on YT where the guy teaches how to play Old School B/X. I’m interested in trying out Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy Rules Tome again because the first time I played it like a computer RPG and it didn’t go well for me either.

by Chinkster

Related Item: Symbaroum Core Rulebook

agramore wrote:

Ouch indeed!

Tell me about it! That guard warrior when he hits auto deals 25 damage and Orlando - because he’s wearing the best class armour - is so slow he only saves on a 1. Of course he didn’t and his armour only mitigates 1d8 damage and he only has 15HP. his armour blocked 7 damage leaving him with only 7HP. One more hit and he would’ve died. No wonder he sued for peace! Thankfully he had Dominate which is a kind of Presence ability that allows him to exert his will on others.

by TabletopBellhop

PandoraCaitiff wrote:

TabletopBellhop wrote:

More of an improv card game than an RPG but, yeah we had fun with this one, though man do your hands get sweaty if using the hand puppets.

I'm going to assume you meant to add Bullwinkle and Rocky Role Playing Party Game to this post.

Yeah, sorry, I missed the quote.

by pdzoch

I ran random adventures at first not really established in any setting. My first setting effort was in Greyhawk, using the U1-3 series. I must have liked it because I am running The Ghosts of Saltmarsh now in Greyhawk again 45 years later for two groups.

by latindog

Same here as yesterday. Keep on the Borderlands. Can't think of too much that I'd change honestly but I haven't looked at the actual combats and such in decades and probably would have to tweak some things if I took a closer look.

by Felice Si

Ariel Himmelman

Ariel enjoys watching the illusory history show. "I love how you do that, Froodle.

Sir Justin, do you know what number of his band are still with him? If we have some idea how many we are up against it could help our strategy. I'm guessing we'll be seen coming on this carriage trail? .... and I'll go and talk to Forvi, I used to live with a group of dwarves, I like to keep up my dwarven. ... Very large insects, you say? Maybe he'll have an enlarge potion or two." Ariel smiles and inclines her head towards her more diminutive companions. "If they're monstrous-sized it would be useful for anyone! Me included."

by lorddillon

CHAPTER 10: INTRODUCTORY ADVENTURE (no spoilers!)

This post isn't going to be very long because I will NOT be including any spoilers that pertain to the adventure itself. I am more interested in the way that the adventure teaches or demonstrates the core rules, which ones it leaves out, and any tips or advice that are provided.

Commodore Xen once again guides us through this chapter, which is for GM's eyes only.

Synopsis and Spotlight Roles: The synopsis tells us what era the adventure is written for and the basic type of mission that will be undertaken (a locate and rescue the NPC mission). I don't think it is spoiling anything to tell you the era, so I will tell you that this takes place in 2258, just after the Federation-Klingon War... so after Star Trek Enterprise and right before Star Trek The Original Series. The synopsis also highlights the main barriers to completing the mission. We are also told what type of character will get a lot of spotlight, and that combat isn't a main focus of the adventure, but is included if the GM wishes to include an optional scene.

The synopsis is short but gives enough info to understand the basic premise and what the main tasks will include. I like that it highlights what type of PC will likely get a ton of spotlight, but when it says it "offers opportunities for other characters to shine" it gives no other hints as to the types of PCs that will take advantage of those opportunities.

:bd6-1: DIRECTIVES
This section provides a bullet-point list of the mission goals/directives. This is well presented - short and to the point, easy to read and understand, and also easy to incorporate into a mission briefing provided to the captain or commanding officer. This section also tells us that 2 threat per PC forms the initial threat pool for the GM.

:bd6-2: PRELUDE
The prelude consists of a transmission from a Vice Admiral telling the bridge officers the mission directives and giving a brief summary of the known information as Starfleet sees it. This provides no opportunity to ask questions since the Admiral's message is pre-recorded. This isn't really a problem since officers are expecting to give and follow orders, but if I was an officer I would be asking why this is an emergency but we are getting a pre-recorded message. Just strikes me as incongruous and doesn't make a difference - what it does do is allow the GM to provide the mission directives without the ability to answer questions that the bridge crew might have about the situation... which means, you don't waste any time in the session trying to answer player questions - you get to just get on with the mission, which is preferable to 'discussing' the facts to death before any action has even occurred.

:bd6-3: ACT 1

Scene 1: The very beginning of the first scene of Act 1 provides an opportunity for the party to build up some Momentum. This is a great lesson on good ways to start a mission - let the party gain some Momentum so that they get used to gaining it, using it, etc.

And by the way - the set up of this mission in Act 1 feels very much like a Star Trek TOS episode.

Scene 2: This scene allows the PCs to gain more background info on the issues involved in this mission. Mechanically, this section also contains stats of the main NPCs involved.

There is an optional scene here, based in part on what the PCs might choose to do. It is a good option and provides guidance to the GM, and also could lead to a challenge of Values for some of the PCs... though it only briefly mentions values and doesn't give any guidance on how to adjudicate this at the table.

:bd6-4: ACT 2
This act provides three scenes (plus an optional 4th) that allow the players to gain even more information and also possibly get some action in.

:halfstar: This is very nitpicky, but one note about the art in this chapter... the art itself is very good, as is all the art in the book (IMHO), except in this case I feel like the tech level of the clothes depicted in all the art doesn't match the tech level of clothing described for the natives of the planet. This is not an absolute deal breaker, and is the tiniest quibble, but with the other attention to detail paid in this book, I was a bit perplexed. They didn't need to order all new art, they could have just described the people's clothes differently.

The optional scene in this act is the one where combat may occur, and it is a good scene to illustrate how some of the natives are dealing with the situation (vs just telling the players how the natives are responding).

:bd6-5: ACT 3
This act offers a final major scene plus an optional scene. The final scene ends with a challenge that has 3 key tasks.

:geek_star: The optional scene here is a good one, and illustrates how a GM could deal with PCs wanting to question the optimal path vs the directives of a mission. It also presents suggested task rolls (which department and attribute should be used). Furthermore, it tells the GM that if they want to do this without a roll, then it is okay to let it play out as a purely roleplayed scene without dice.


:nostar: One of my issues with the scene, however, is that no matter what the result of the task attempt roll the outcome is 99% the same. Ugh! Why roll if the outcome is the same? And if the GM chose to let this happen via roleplay, why waste the time if the outcome is the same?

An alternative to this would be that the PCs disobey orders and really challenge their Values and that leads to consequences that can be followed up on in a future mission or adventure. Instead, the adventure says "here is the outcome" and doesn't even mention a Value challenge at this point.

The challenge laid out in the final scene of this act features a linear challenge that is well presented and makes logical sense. It also provides suggestions for the task attempts and states what success and failure means for each key task.

:geek_star: A really great thing this act does is provide a way for the GM to spur the PCs along if they get stuck, and it does it in a way that matches the intentions of the mechanics without violating the narrative or the roleplay. In essence, it allows a player to get a spark of inspiration by making a task attempt, and possibly Succeed at Cost depending on what part of the mission the characters are in. This is well done and shows a new GM at least one way to handle it when the players get stuck without just giving extra information, which could feel like "cheating" to a new GM.

:halfstar: The last scene of this act should really be two scenes, one that encompasses the challenge and then another that encompasses what the characters do after completing the challenge, which takes place in a different location. But it isn't presented that way - it is presented as one single scene... without giving away the details I will only say that it's more a layout issue than a mechanical or game breaking issue, so it's not like it 'ruins the whole thing' or anything major like that. However, I would rather they model a best practice style of layout of information and scenes when creating a mission or adventure.

:bd6-6: ENDING THE MISSION

This section provides enough information for the GM to do a fulfilling, but quick, post-mission narrative epilogue. It then mentions some ideas for future missions with this crew.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THIS CHAPTER

:nostar: No Traits: The scenes are decent, but I really wish the adventure had given some Traits for each scene - or even mentioned that the GM should determine traits based on how the PCs acted in the previous scene. Instead, no mention of traits at all, which means this introductory teaching adventure didn't teach the GM about one of the most important aspects of the game.

:nostar: Extended Tasks and Challenging Values: Likewise, the mission doesn't provide any extended tasks or mention the details of how a PC might have their values challenged by what is happening on the planet. I see this as a huge missed opportunity more than a 'bad design' issue...

:nostar: Role Spotlight: I also feel like this mission is very focused on characters with a specific specialty (medical department). It's not that it is extremely bad to do that, but this adventure gives no real advice on how to adjust the mission to include more actions that could be used by characters with other specialties. It also doesn't specifically tell the GM to make sure they have a main character with a high medical rating. At the very end, in the last two paragraphs of the last act it mentions how the very last thing PCs do in the very last scene could spotlight someone from a different department.

It's fine, and of course I favor science and medicine (I am a biology professor in real life) so it doesn't offend me or anything... but I wish it was a more balanced mission as an introduction to the game. Or at least give the GM advice on how to help the players use a supporting character with a medical specialty, or introduce more scenes by providing a specific spotlight task that a different character focus would be good for.

And yes, I know this is Star Trek and I know that players of this game are probably going to chime in with all sorts of ideas, and I know that the characters mostly end up well rounded and so this would not ruin the adventure... but I think as an introductory adventure, it needs more advice on how to spotlight characters with different specialties.

:tankard: Final Thoughts: The adventure is a decent story and feels very Star Trek in terms of the actual story and the way it is handled. I do wish they had spent more time creating appropriate scenes that spotlight other character types, show how a values challenge works in play, and highlight scene traits. And given that chapter 9 had several pages of information basically repeated from chapter 7, I feel like they could have streamlined that chapter to add some bulk to this one. I know, I know - they were trying to keep this introductory adventure short enough to finish in one session. I know, I know - Star Trek episodes often spotlight a single character or two... I know... but I wanted more. Maybe I am asking too much? :tankard:

Stay tuned for my next post, covering Chapter 11: Allies and Adversaries

by HiveGod

by Downunderrich

Related Item: For Small Creatures Such As We

$10