Dying Stylishly (A Shoutout)

A while back I posted some advice to someone on one of the 4chan OSR threads that crop up about starting to get traction for the game they wrote. Among other advice, I mentioned the usefulness of a blog and some minor insights I've gathered from developing 'Bastards. I've now come across the blog developed, and would heartily recommend checking it out.

Dying Stylishly is the dev blog of Emmy Allen, whose most recent project is the OSR-based Wolf-packs and the Winter Snow, a prehistoric Weird role-playing game that could be most easily described a a heavily modified LotFP wrapped around an ice-age setting. It's some very cool work and has a handful of tricks up its sleeve. Definitely worth taking a look into. If I can get the gaming time in, I may well do a review on it later. It's currently available as a Pay-What-You-Want option at DriveThruRPG, which includes absolutely free as an option so you have no excuse not to check it out. The blog itself is only a couple weeks old now, but has maintained a post per day so far. The content covers a whole mess of gaming topics, from LotFP to Vampire the Masquerade, but also hits on Wolf-Pack topics and updates. I look forward to seeing where she goes with it.

Go check it out and send some love from a scoundrel.

Random Starting Equipment for B/x (or Other Old School Fantasy Games)

Unnecessary Background (Feel free to skip to the good stuff)

I'm going to be doing a weekly OSR actual play series on youtube/twitch through roll20. Roll20 has some great features for automating certain things, and we wound up throwing together character generation macros so you can roll up 3 sets of stats at once and pick your poison. In that spirit, I decided to make a random starting gear table for it as well, so players can dive right in without going shopping if they like. The following works on our current (ever so slightly tweaked) B/x rules. You can also download it as a handy reference pdf.

Random Starting Gear for..

Clerics (3d6)

3	club, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wooden holy symbol, d6 GP
4	club, shield, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, wooden holy symbol, d6 GP
5	mace, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wooden holy symbol, 5 GP
6	quarter-staff, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 12 iron spikes, wooden holy symbol, 3 stakes & mallet, steel mirror, 2d6 GP
7	chain armor, war hammer, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wooden holy symbol, 2 small sacks, 2d6 GP
8	chain armor, shield, mace, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, wooden holy symbol, 2 small sacks, 2d6 GP
9	chain armor, shield, war hammer, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wooden holy symbol, 2 small sacks, 3 stakes & mallet, steel mirror, 2d6 GP
10	plate armor, shield, mace, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, wooden holy symbol, 2d6 GP
11	plate armor, shield, war hammer, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wooden holy symbol, small sack, d6 GP
12	plate armor, quarter-staff, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, silver holy symbol, d6 GP
13	club, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wolfsbane, holy water, wooden holy symbol, scroll, 2d6 GP
14	plate armor, shield, mace, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, silver holy symbol, 2d6 GP
15	leather armor, mace, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wooden holy symbol, random divine scroll, 2 flasks oil, 1 GP
16	plate armor, shield, war hammer, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, silver holy symbol, 3 stakes & mallet, steel mirror, 12 GP
17	chain armor, war hammer, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, wooden holy symbol, divine scroll, 10 GP
18	plate armor, shield, mace, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, silver holy symbol, vial holy water, 12 iron spikes, 3 stakes & mallet, small sack, healing potion, 10 GP

Fighters

3	polearm, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
4	club, dagger, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
5	leather armor, mace, shield, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
6	leather armor, battle axe, hand axe, dagger, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP
7	chain armor, spear, shield, dagger, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
8	chain armor, shield, sword, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
9	chain armor, sword, light crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
10	plate armor, shield, sword, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
11	plate armor, two-handed sword, 3 daggers, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2 flasks oil, 2d6 GP
12	plate armor, shield, sword, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
13	plate armor, warhammer, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, small sack, 2d6 GP
14	plate armor, shield, sword, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
15	plate armor, polearm, shield, short sword, dagger, light crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 5 flasks oil, 3d6 GP
16	plate armor, two-handed sword, short sword, dagger, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2 small sacks, 3d6 GP
17	plate armor, polearm, dagger, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 2 silver tipped arrows, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
18	plate armor, shield, sword, 2 daggers, light crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 4 silver tipped quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP

Magic Users (3d6)

3	dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
4	staff, 2 daggers, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 2 flasks oil, 50' rope, 2d6 GP
5	dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP
6	staff, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, vial of holy water, 2d6 GP
7	2 daggers, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole 5 flasks of oil, silver mirror, belladona, 2d6 GP
8	staff, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2 vials holy water, d6 GP
9	3 daggers, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, vial of holy water, 5d6 GP
10	dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2 vials holy water, 6d6 GP
11	dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6*10 GP
12	staff, dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2d6*10 GP
13	dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, arcane scroll, 10' pole, 4 GP
14	2 daggers, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, arcane scroll, 50' rope, 2d6 GP
15	dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, arcane scroll, 10' pole, d6 GP
16	staff, dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, arcane scroll, 50' rope, 4d6 GP
17	silver dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, arcane scroll, 10' pole, 5d6 GP
18	staff, silver dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, arcane scroll, 50' rope, 2d6*10 GP

Thieves(3d6)

3	club, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
4	club, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2 small sacks, d6 GP
5	club, dagger, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2d6 GP
6	sword, dagger, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP
7	cudgel, light crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2 small sacks, 2d6 GP
8	sword, light crossbow, case of 30 quarrels, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 1 bag caltrops, 10' pole, 2d6 GP
9	sword, 2 daggers, 35 short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
10	sword, dagger, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 bag caltrops, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2 small sacks, d6*10 GP
11	sword, crossbow, case of 30 quarrels, 2 silver tipped quarrels, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2d6 GP
12	sword, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 6d6 GP
13	sword, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 bag caltrops, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2d6*10 GP
14	sword, dagger, crossbow, case of 30 quarrels, 6 silver tipped quarrels, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 4d6 GP
15	sword, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 silver tipped arrows, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 1 bag caltrops, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 6d6 GP
16	sword, 4 daggers, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2 small sacks, 2d6*10 GP
17	sword, 3 daggers, crossbow, case of 30 quarrels, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 1 bag caltrops, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, small sack 2d6*10 GP
18	sword, 1 silver dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 8 silver tipped arrows, leather armor, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 2 small sacks, 10' pole, 6d6 GP

Dwarves (3d6)

3	leather armor, battleaxe, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
4	leather armor, handaxe, shield, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
5	chain armor, warhammer, shield, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
6	chain armor, battle axe, hand axe, dagger, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP
7	chain armor, hand axe, shield, dagger, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
8	chain armor, battleaxe, shield, hand axe, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
9	plate armor, polearm, hand axe, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
10	plate armor, shield, handaxe, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
11	plate armor, battleaxe, warhammer, shield, 3 daggers, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2 flasks oil, 2d6 GP
12	plate armor, shield, handaxe, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
13	plate armor, battleaxe, dagger, 35 crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, small sack, 2d6 GP
14	plate armor, shield, warhammer, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
15	plate armor, helmet, 2 battle axes, dagger, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 5 flasks oil, 3d6 GP
16	plate armor, two-handed sword, dagger, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2 small sacks, 3d6 GP
17	plate armor, polearm, handaxe, dagger, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 2 silver tipped quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
18	plate armor, shield, warhammer, 2 daggers, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 4 silver tipped quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP

Elves (3d6)

3	leather armor, sword, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
4	leather armor, spear, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
5	leather armor, spear, shield, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
6	leather armor, shield, short sword, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP
7	chain armor, spear, shield, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
8	chain armor, shield, sword, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
9	chain armor, spear, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
10	plate armor, shield, sword, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
11	plate armor, two-handed sword, short sword, 3 daggers, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2 flasks oil, 2d6 GP
12	plate armor, shield, sword, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
13	plate armor, sword, dagger, 35 short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, small sack, 2d6 GP
14	plate armor, shield, sword, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, dagger, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
15	plate armor, shield, sword, dagger, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 5 flasks oil, 3d6 GP
16	plate armor, two-handed sword, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2 small sacks, arcane scroll, 3d6 GP
17	plate armor, spear, dagger, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 2 silver tipped arrows, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
18	plate armor, shield, sword, 2 daggers, long bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 4 silver tipped quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, arcane scroll, 2d6 GP

Halfings (3d6)

3	club, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
4	club, leather armor, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
5	leather armor, mace, shield, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, d6 GP
6	leather armor, hand axe, dagger, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP
7	chain armor, short sword, shield, dagger, sling, pouch with 20 sling bullets, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
8	chain armor, shield, short sword, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
9	chain armor, short sword, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
10	chain armor, shield, short sword, dagger, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
11	chain armor, short sword, 3 daggers, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 2 flasks oil, 2d6 GP
12	plate armor, shield, short sword, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
13	plate armor, short sword, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, small sack, 2d6 GP
14	plate armor, shield, short sword, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 bag caltrops,1 week iron rations, 10' pole, d6 GP
15	plate armor, shield, short sword, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 6 torches, backpack, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 5 flasks oil, 3d6 GP
16	plate armor, short sword, dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 bag caltrops,1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2 small sacks, 3d6 GP
17	plate armor, shield, short sword, silver dagger, short bow, quiver of 20 arrows, 2 silver tipped arrows, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 50' rope, 3d6 GP
18	plate armor, shield, short sword, 2 daggers, crossbow, case with 30 quarrels, 4 silver tipped quarrels, backpack, waterskin, lantern, 4 flasks oil, 1 week iron rations, 10' pole, 2d6 GP

Credit for the original idea goes to Brendan S. I've since seeded some extra nonsense in my version across the board, both making it a better fit for B/x and flavoring it a little (dwarves tend to have more dwarfy weapons, elves have more elfy weapons). I have no doubt that my results will not be as mathematically elegant, but they will serve my purposes.

The Adept - A Class for Lamentations of the Flame Princess (or other Old-School Fantasy Games)

I've had an idea for jedi adepts for LotFP for a while, as they bring to the table something different than either a cleric or magic-user traditionally. With the Star Wars franchise returning to theaters for the next foreseeable forever, I figured I might as well.

The Adept

Nazgul by Martawadman

XP and Saves as Magic-User, d6 HP per level. Same combat options as Fighters, Dwarves, and Elves. Must choose to be either Chaotic OR Lawful.

Where others search outwardly for answers, the adept looks within. Through secret rituals, rigorous discipline, mind-altering drugs and intense medication, they walk the wyrding way giving them preternatural abilities and influence on those around them.

The Wyrding Way:
Adepts can channel the wyrd and use it to add an extra die to any ability, save, attack, or damage roll they must make, or can be rolled and added to their AC for a single combat round (from the beginning of their turn to the beginning of their next turn). At first level, this begins as a d4 and goes up by one die-size every four levels. d6 at 4, d8 at 8, d10 at 12, d12 at 16. This can be used on any roll as often as the adept wishes, but every time a 1 appears on either die rolled, their Wyrd goes down one die size. If it is reduced to less than a d4, their will is depleted and they can summon it no further until they've had time to rest and perform the proper meditations (treat the same as a magic-user regaining their spells).

I've been playing with an idea for a corruption lightside/darkside mechanic for the Adept to play with the Lawful or Chaotic choice, but I haven't settled on it yet. Maybe in a future post.

Statistics in the OSR market

My OSR house rules have slowly evolved into a game of their own, and I've been kicking around the idea of publishing them after 'Bastards is all grown up and finding its own way in the world. To this end, I've done some amateur market research by way of straw polls. I'm sure none of these are statistically significant by way of sample size, but here they are.

Screencaps are here from the time at writing, but if you want to weigh in, I'll leave links to each below the poll itself.

http://strawpoll.me/7025086/

This poll had the most results, and it confirms to what I predicted. The most popular edition chosen was Moldvay Basic, but nearly twice as many people weighed in and said that they didn't care one way or another about the specific edition. What did surprise me was that OD&D beat out BECMI/RC and AD&D by a decent margin. I can't be sure if this is because OD&D is more popular than I thought, or because more people thought it was underrepresented than the other editions.

Since the leading result didn't care what edition it was, that leads to the next question: how much do we care about faithfulness to the core material?

http://strawpoll.me/7044557/

The results here are more definitive than the first question, but we have an even smaller sample size. That said, it completely conforms to my expectations. Because OSR stuff is so broadly compatible, the overwhelming majority seem more interested in seeing innovation than faithfulness to the old rules.

http://strawpoll.me/7139460/

This last one I've been kicking around for a while. Book formatting is something I've written about before and it's an interesting topic for OSR. Depending on the edition and game, we've seen it done a number of ways. The results here surprised me.

I've never gotten to experience LBB OD&D, but I've always loved the physical presentation of it. The amateurish doodles give it a naive charm, and the nostalgia factor is high. The actual booklets themselves have a kind of versatility that you lose in single-volume sets, as they allow you to have multiple people looking different things up simultaneously. If you can acquire them separately, it also means you can have multiple copies of the character creation section if you need it to speed up the process. I think it may also be less intimidating to initiate a new player into the game with a half-sized 30-page booklet than handing them the 300-page player's guide from certain other editions of the game.

For the first day or so that I monitored this poll, all four options were at a dead heat, with at most a vote or two between them. I assumed that the single volume 8.5x11 would ultimately win out, as it is the most common form RPG books take. I was pleasantly surprised that the 6x9 took the lead. I've written about how much I love this format ever since I picked up the Burning Wheel Gold book.

Even if the above changes significantly after the time of posting, I think I will stick with the 6x9 as the target size for a new book. This is not just because I genuinely enjoy the form factor for it, but because it creates a secondary possibility as well. It's easy to lay out the book at 5.5x8.5 (half-page LBB size) first and create the game in such a way as it can stand as multiple booklets and then just slightly upscale the same layout to fit a single-volume 6x9 without changing page numbers. Print on demand being what it is, it would be easy to offer both for people to pick at their preference. I can easily see someone using the single-volume hardback and a couple extra character-creation booklets at the table.

The Hunter - a Class for Lamentations of the Flame Princess (or other Old-School Fantasy games)

A simple martial class that does a decent job representing anything from a Solomon Kane style witch-hunter, to a dedicated dragon-slayer or duelist.

The Hunter

Solomon Kane by Draldede

XP, Saves, and HP as a fighter. Uses fighter combat options (but not ascending AB). 

Where the fighter is an unmatched engine of slaughter, the Hunter is specialist, forsaking general combat prowess in exchange for absolute mastery against their chosen prey.

Prey:
Hunters begin with 3 points to spend on their choice of prey, a type of enemy against which they get a number of bonuses. Good prey categories include: Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Spirits/Spectres, Demons, Unintelligent Dead, Vampires, Magic-Users, Were-things, and so on.

Hunters can only choose a type of prey after they have spent some time studying it and have fought it in combat. On each level after the first, they gain 2 more points that they can spend on new or existing categories of prey, though the original conditions apply. To go from Vampires 1 to Vampires 2, you have to find, study and fight another vampire. The maximum amount of points they can assign to a given category of prey is equal to their current level.

Whenever they are making rolls against an enemy of a type designated as prey, they gain their ranks as a bonus to any ability, saves, attacks, or damage rolls against them. If a character had Sorcerers 3, they would gain a +3 to attack and damage rolls against them, saves against them, or any ability rolls that are directly concerning or in opposition to them.

The hunter can definitely outclass a fighter against the very specific enemies they have dedicated themselves to, but the fighter is definitely the more powerful opponent overall. This is particularly true if they have started to spread themselves out and have less than their maximum bonus at any particular level.
If you try to bring this into some other game, be sure to note that in LotFP only fighters gain attack bonuses normally. You may want to tone the prey bonuses down for games where everyone advances in their To Hit.

Beta Release - Part 3

Another Thursday, another release. Last week we got a ton of feedback on 90 pages of content and some very interesting discussions going on the forums. You guys have been phenomenally helpful. We tried to incorporate as much of that as time allowed, but we've still got a great deal of it ahead. That will be a project to carry us through the weekend.

In addition to some editing for clarity, this week we introduce two chapters that you have been eagerly awaiting.

Chapter 09: Full Contest gets into the core rules we use for chases, debates, and other prolonged skill-based conflicts.

Chapter 10: Melee Combat gets into the meat of our fighting system, which many of you have been speculating over for months now.

We haven't had as much time to work on everything this week as we had hoped, so the examples are still missing in certain areas. If our schedules allow, we may toss in a mid-week update before next Thursday to get everything taken care of and our release schedule back on track.

You can pick up your copy here or on our downloads page. As always, we'll be opening discussion threads for feedback on our forums.

Thanks for sticking with us, folks. Enjoy.

- The GH Crew

Beta release - Part 2

Mirrored...

 

 
What a week. With the last edits as fresh as this morning, we've pulled through. Grand Heresy is happy to announce release 2 of our rolling beta. This week we cover a ton of material, going from about 15 pages to 95, putting us up to Chapter 08.

You can download your copy here

Chapter 03 Anatomy of a Bastard takes you through the structure of character creation, starting with creating your band of bastards first and establishing the overall tone and expectations for the campaign ahead.

Chapter 04  Attributes & Skills has full writeups for each, exactly as you'd expect, as well as some more specific rules on using them in play.

Chapter 05 Proficiencies & Maneuvers is what many of you have been looking forward to. It covers a character's training at arms, our proficiency system, and the maneuvers 'Bastards uses to make combat interesting. In addition, it also covers Simple Combat, allowing for less intensive combat resolution for quick scuffles or groups that are less interested in the ebb-and-flow of melee.

Chapter 06 Edges & Flaws is thus far the largest single chapter in the book, accounting for 23 pages on its own. Therein we list all of the information for the various options available to your character, and how to get the most out of your flaws in play.

Chapter 07 Story Aspects details the mechanic that really drives our game forward, covering the role it plays in allowing the player to guide the story, the reward cycle, and how SAs play into character advancement. 

Finally, Chapter 08 Supporting Cast covers how players can establish NPC relationships at character creation, or make new contacts and enemies through play.

Threads have already been set up on a chapter-by-chapter basis on our forums for feedback.

We look forward to hearing from you!

- The GH Crew