After extensive play testing and imminent release of Arsenic & Old Lace, the influences of Trollish Delver, Barrel Rider Games, Dungeon Crawl Classics, the 1937 "The Hobbit" as a setting, Crown and Skull, and of course Olde House Rules; I have done some serious tweaking on the "Secret Storyteller's Rulebook" for running Sword and Backpack that I initially discussed in my original Orthodox Sword & Backpack post.
As I was playing around with the bones, I wanted to accomplish a few things (not in any particular order):
- Honor the Legacy of the Twin City Gamers
- Reduce Math
- Honor the Original Material
- A "failed career" that has some impact because lets face it, no one is born an adventurer
- Smooth Combat
I think the FIRST thing is going to be create an example list of failed careers after the players choose their "job" and add the caveat of them writing down why the career failed and what was their call to adventure. Like one of the three jobs, they are considered to have the equipment from their failed career. I also think this enriches characters backstories and opens up role play options. Players can roll, choose, or work with the Storyteller of choosing something else. There may be some other examples as well.
- Alchemist
- Astrologer
- Barber
- Blacksmith
- Butcher
- Cutpurse
- Farmer
- Gambler
- Healer
- Hunter
- Mariner
- Mercenary
- Merchant
- Musician
- Rat Catcher
- Scribe
- Smuggler
- Soldier
- Trapper
- Vagrant
The SECOND thing is going to reduce math as much as possible. In my initial "secret rule book" I used a three tier difficulty to make choosing target numbers quick and characters got to add +5 to their roll if the action fell under the purview of their job. This is also the area where I want the "failed careers" to have an impact outside of lore and I want to keep the three tier difficulty base...so here we go...
- If an action falls within the Job: 8+
- In an action falls within the failed career: 10+
- Everything else: 15+
The THIRD thing was to make combat player facing and it is something I spent a lot of time play-testing and I was truly on the fence about it. In the end, I decided to not handle combat this way. I wanted the experience to be more dynamic and engaging for everyone evolved. Plus, I think it would be fun to add a little bit of swing and chaos. For posterity sake I am going to include my original idea below.
- If the characters tactics falls within the scope of their job OR the opponent/hazard is not meant to be strong: 8+
- If it is standard opponent/hazard: 12+
- All other opponents/hazards: 15+
Now, how I ended up to decide how to run it will be that there will be simple initiative (adventurers go first) and then the opponents. Everyone gets a turn and only the active adventurer or opponent as the ability to deal a hit (more on the below). Then the player and the Storyteller will both roll d20s and whoever has the highest result wins and the active adventurer or opponent will get to land a hit. Though, the caveat of this is that if the adventurer's job can be brought to bear then the players gets to add +5 to their roll!
Oh yes, I did it. I changed it up for combat. So sue me.
The FOURTH thing I was going to do was to hard wire in some resource management in the core so to speak but after much play-testing and introspection I decided against it. I am going to use a simple hit system like it has been done since the dawn of time. Adventurers start with 7 hits. Most opponents will have 1-2 hits and more powerful opponents will have more. Simple as that.
So, putting this all together, it would look like this...
COMING SOON...
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