Monday, February 3, 2025

A DCC way to do random encounters

You enter a few spaces, take some time searching for secret doors, or make a lotta noise busting down a door. Time to make a check, but you are playing DCC, so let's put some mustard on that check.

Game judge, ask the Luck score of the PC that made that choice (go for the lowest luck if multiple people are about to find out).

I just found this image on Twitter but I couldn't get it. Anyone please  explain it to me? Thanks. : r/EnglishLearning

Roll a d20. This is one of the times you are allowed to roll secretly in DCC, but you must swear to Bobugbubilz that you will not fudge the results unless things are getting boring. If it rolled that PC's Luck or less, frown, ask if they have gloves or if their mother is still alive or if they brushed their teeth this morning, but there is no random encounter.

Maybe throw spoor at the PCs if the roll just squeaked by.

If it failed, there will be an encounter (or anything else from hunger to lantern oil being used up). If you think the party is getting desperate, maybe say, "Would you like to burn some luck?"

Can they know how much? Nope. If they opt in, they have to pay the difference between the roll and their Luck score, but the bad thing does not happen. This time.

If they roll a natural 20, bring out something that could really wreck their shit. It won't necessarily want to kill them (what care have giants for ants?), but say the immortal words, "Roll for initiative."

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I've made this post in anticipation of venturing into Tegel Manor once again using DCC RAW. Would you like to join the dead? Click on this link to Dungeoncrawlers Discord, which expires in seven days.
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Sunday, January 19, 2025

Rhyming Boxed Text

Remember when Homer fought the giant spider?

Some people hate boxed text, and others find it useful (I met one of my players when they reached out to complain Wizardarium had no boxes). Others point out that many players zone out when they hear the boxed speech starting.

What if we could spice it up in a fun way that everyone likes? Rhyming room descriptions! I think they're neat.

I'm currently running the Dragon Magazine version of The Dancing Hut (Baba Yaga). What could I say about the first room?

Tho it appears to an old woman's hovel be
It is filled with an air of mystery.

On the rude table flickering weakly
A lantern is set to help you see

The floor is of beaten earth
Six timber walls give small berth

In one corner of this small hexagon
be a basin under a table, no dinner, just the lamp, thereupon

A wood burning stove with chimney rising to the room's center
And a straw mattress with a worn quilt o'er 'er.

There is a door standing opposite... here and there a bit of brick-a-brack:
Pegs, shelves, boxes, combs, and sewing supplies... dare you enter, or go you back?
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Monday, December 30, 2024

Oracular Kanji Card Improv for Elfgames

Sometimes a DM has no idea what to do. One trick you could try is turning to a random page in a book and finding a random word to inspire you. But I usually have kanji study cards at hand.

Example from a recent game. The players got interested in the fact that there were itinerant barbarians in town and wanted to hire one, so I had to come up with a guy on the fly. The card I drew had the kanji 介, which triggered the word 介護 for me, which can be used for care-giving. One English word I associate with that is nurse, because care-givers for the elderly are often called that. So I came up with a nurse-barbarian. He is into taking care of the wounded. For his name, I took the reading of the kanji, kai, and made him Kai the nursebarian.

In the same session, I let the players world-wank up some rumors about the house they were going to rumble. One player was like, "I dunno, I got nothing," and I assured them it was fine to pass on the question, but I also showed them the next kanji card in my box which was the kanji for other, and that got some creative-release.

You could use kanji to answer many kinds of questions. What does the prophesy say? What kind of trick is in this room? If you don't feel joy sparking, go to the next card in the box.

I looked a bit for some online random kanji generators, but frankly I like these cards (translations are on the back side) much better, as the example combo words are really what gets the juices flowing, and a kanji without a friend is often a half-baked idea--unless you happen to know a good wago word that uses it.介 is not such a kanji, so yeah, the card is helpful.

You could try a random English word generator, of course.

Like I said, there are a million ways to randomize ideas, like dictionaries. Sometimes, when I need a treasure, I turn to the kanji cards, but often I turn to a copy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's catalogue.
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Saturday, December 28, 2024

Pregame Warmup Worldwanking

I’m pretty particular when it comes to the demihumans of my world, but besides that, I think maybe my group could really get into the game setting and roleplaying mindset if they had a hand in describing some of the other features and rumors of it. So here’s what I’m gonna try:

At game start, I recap the last session with Spencer Crittenden music. Then I pose a question such as:
  • What dangers await in the purple hills?
  • What factions vie for control of the wastes?
  • It is said that a miracle occurred in Gropecuntelane. What is it?


I do not ask any one person in particular. I tell the group to think for just a second, while I have them roll initiative. The person at the top of initiative gets the first game turn, which consists of them saying something their character heard, and how they heard it--if they want. The second person does this as well, spouting their own take on the answer. After these two, I then ask if anyone heard a different tale or rumor about the thing.

That’s it, that’s the process. I as the GM have to decide which answer is true, if any of them are, and to what degree. If I’m not sure, I could consult a die to see which is the rumor I want to focus on and its veracity. d6: 1) this answer is spot on, 2~5) this answer is somewhat true, 6) this answer is ironically quite false.

Addendum:
Those cheesy scripts that started WEG Star Wars modules? That was the only time I got a certain player to speak in any sort of accent or funny voice. Those things may bear some revisiting by GMs and designers.

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Friday, December 27, 2024

A List of Dungeon-world Style Bonds I’ve been needing


I like the bonds in DW, even if I rarely play that one. I never seem to have them at hand, so Imma blog my own version and bookmark it. Also, it’s a d12 list. The best kind of list in the OSR.

  1. BLANK has stolen something and they think they got away with it.
  2. BLANK is a figure of the prophesy. The signs are all there, right down to their birthmark.
  3. In a pinch, BLANK can/cannot be relied on to save my hide.
  4. BLANK is a great big phony! 
  5. BLANK is burdened by their past; but I know the way to cheer them up.
  6. BLANK is like a bull in a pottery shop. 
  7. The wisdom of BLANK is rivaled only by their QUALITY.
  8. I need to protect BLANK because REASON.
  9. BLANK matches the description of the guy that shot my pa…
  10. It’s easy to seduce BLANK, so I’mma keep an eye on them.
  11. BLANK is a bully… and I hang out with them. What does that make me?
  12. I’ll never doubt BLANK after THE INCIDENT.

Monday, December 16, 2024

Trauma Conquering System for dealing with sanity in an elf game

This is a refresh of a post I previously made. I’m trying to make it simple to adjudicate.

A ghost touches your soul. An elder evil's face is glimpsed. Your whole family dies. So you had a bad day, and now you are not in your right mind.

When you fail to save vs insanity, take a condition. While you have a condition, you cannot gain XP, though exorcising your inner demons may come with a cathartic XP bonus. The good news is you cannot gain more than one condition at a time.

All the conditions' mechanical effects and XP nullification will go away once their requirements have been satisfied, but these should prompt lingering role-playing issues. You were broken, and like a kintsugi bowl, you will beautiful, but never the same.

One rule: Give these in secret to your players. They should keep their insanity secrect (act, it's a freakin RPG) and their motives mysterious.

1d12 Broken PC Conditions:
  1. WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!†: You're certain that a random ally or NPC has a secret, and you must find it out by any means necessary (the secret doesn't have to be true, but your character must be satisfied with the confession).
    • I hate the smell of honey, don't you? Anyways, best tell me where you hid the baby.
    • If you don't admit right now, by Mitra, what is in your pocket, I will drop this puppy.
    • This is potent wine, isn't it? You might slip and let me know anything and I would never tell a soul!

  2. HIDE YOUR SOUL!: You must change your current, true name (use ceremonial methods) and hide it in a Matryoshka doll in a box in a chest within the pits of ______ (the DM can decide how to get you the name of the place).

  3. I NEED TO TAKE HIM DOWN A PEG: You must secretly or suddenly set up a situation harmful to an NPC. This should expose them to significant loss of reputation. Tripping a guy in the street is not enough; you need this person to be shunned by their peers. If they get jailed or killed, well, they deserved it, right?!
    • Lady Chattery's brooch is missing? What is that dangling from Lord Tashertorn's boot?
    • Ha, little does the acolyte know that I gave him a scroll of explosive runes to take back to Sandelstin the Imperious.

  4. I NEED THE POWER AND CONTROL: You must gain an office or station with sway over no less than 10×level sapient beings.
    • Some of you may die, but that is a risk I am willing to take.
    • I have received a revelation, and have been directed to marry all three sisters, brother Hyrum. As the humble representative of Xenu, I must obey.
    • Too long have orcs lived in the shadows!

  5. PUZZLES ARE THE KEY TO REALITY: You have to solve one adventure puzzle or riddle on your own. If anyone tries to help you, not only is the chance to end this condition ruined, but you also have the Resentment condition (3) from above towards that character too!
    • Shut up, I know how knights move on the board!
    • All these squares make a circle...

  6. MONSTERPHILIA: you have to woo one monster. Consummate the relationship somehow before regaining your wits. Oh lord, I hope your game has safety tools.
    • I roll to seduce the dragon.

  7. GOLDFEVER: You need to collect at least 100 gold coins (no sharing!), then roll a (DC 15-1 for every 100 gold hoarded since you got unwell) Will save, or you still have this condition.
    • I need, like enough to swim in.

  8. CRAVENNESS: Hire a body guard and cower during fights as long as the body guard lives. After they die, you reluctantly start taking care of business again.
    • Brave, brave sir Robin! You tell them, my henchman.

  9. MY OATH WILL KEEP ME PURE: Chose a quest/mission/objective you have yet to fulfill (even if it is a really old one you kinda forgot), or throw yourself at the mercy of the DM and they will make up one for you. If possible, drop any other current objectives and single-mindedly pursue that one to completion.
    • I will not rest until the level one goblin chieftain is dead.

  10. FAY-PRIMITIVISM: You abhor worked metal of any kind, and seize up with imagined allergic reactions at the touch of such. This condition ends once a foe has pierced you with such an implement and you survive.
    • It burnses us!

  11. WATCH THE WORLD BURN: You must set some structures (occupants quite optional) ablaze. The amount of floors or burned structures must equal or exceed your current level.
    • Warms the soul.
    • Anyone know where I could get a fiddle?

  12. I NEED A TOME TO HELP ME MAKE MY CREEPY NOTEBOOK: You become obsessed with finding esoteric information (of your choice) that you are convinced is to be found in the tome of ____ and won't be sane until you have studied it for a number of weeks numbering (roll until you roll under your Int). You must do some research to find the name of the tome, as well as clues to where it might be.  

†: This one is almost directly ripped from a False Machine post that started this idea for me.
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here's one I rejected for not being questy enough and overlong:
Body issues: You must (1d3) 1: loose 1d20 pounds, 2: gain 1d20 pounds of fat, or 3: gain 1d10 pounds of muscle. It will take 1 day of fasting to lose any 1 pound (roll over Con to confirm), and 1 week to gain any (roll under Str or Con to confirm). If you lose or gain fat, also lose or gain a point of Con when you reach your goal weight. If you gain the muscle, gain a point of Str, but you must eat double rations to maintain your body image/gained score.
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Sunday, October 20, 2024

A Psionics Sytem Using Playing Cards for Old School D&Ds and BRPs

Zener cards

First, you gotta see if you are psychic. You must roll a d100 at or under your mind stats (one chance per each stat. So in D&D you would roll three times, once each vs your INT, WIZ, and CHA.

Since the average score for an ability is around 10 if you are doing 3d6, you overall end up with about a 27% chance of being psychic in this system, so DMs gotta be aware that it won't be rare if they adopt this rule.

Let's get to the actual meat of the post. The brain meat. If your GM has access to those psychic guessing cards from Ghostbusters, use those. Most tables will have to use tarot or playing cards tho. Do magicians shops have Zener cards?

Anyhoo, to do a psionic thing, negotiate the potential effects this the ref and then guess a card (Zener) or a suit. If you guess right, you did the thing without issue. If you guess wrong, you take a consequence in accordance with how hardcore you pulsated your temple-veins.

when she goes
for closing the
gate at the end
of a season,
that is a
high stakes risk


For instance, if you tried to scanners a guy's noggin to pulp. The game Judge may simply say, "you're dead." But I say if you are trying to splode a simple mook's pituitary, the stakes are still low. If the stakes are low, I think it is more appropriate to have a psychic nosebleed.

You take damage from the nosebleed equal to the number that appears on the card (face cards make you pass out). Since Zener cards don't have obvious numbers, count the lines on them (a circle has 1 line, an star has 5).

See, now that you know they are more forgiving, you are going to buy the game facilitator a deck of these Zener things.

One parting bit of consideration: as a PC gains experience, perhaps they should get a little bit better at doing the dramatic stuff. Maybe once you get seasoned, stuff that used to be dramatic, like picking up a whole semi truck, are not quite as risky for you as they used to be. Or maybe you get to draw two cards and take the best for something that is now a tried and true power for you. The world is your Ψ-oyster.



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