The Wyzard Runs OD&D
Contents
The Slayers
The Wyzard Runs TFT: The Adventurers
Maps
From time to time, the players may map wilderness or dungeon areas. Links to maps and descriptions of those areas should be placed here. The Wyzard's Maps
House Rules & Other Behind-the-Curtain Matters
To the extent that the players are informed, this information will go here.
- Hit Points: Unlike future editions of the game, all of a PC's hit dice will be re-rolled at each level, with the new total being taken if it is higher than the previous total.
- Hit Points, 2: As an act of entirely undeserved mercy, this game will allow PCs to survive being reduced to 0 HP at the option of the player. If one is reduced to 0 HP, one is semiconscious and prone. Further activity is likely to prove fatal, and 1d6 days of convalescence above and beyond the normal time required for healing will be necessary to restore the PC to health and well-being. At the player's option, the PC can simply lack the will to live and expire normally. A wound-curing spell will return the stricken PC to 1 HP, rather than having its normal effect.
- In OD&D you regain 1 HP every two days. Except if you are at zero, then getting back to 1 takes 1d6+1 days. Source of ruling: http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=13052774&postcount=556
- Modifiers in Combat: As an act of simplification, situations which give a clear advantage to one party or another in combat, which that party is able and inclined to take advantage of, will generally give a +2 or -2 to-hit or to AC, as appropriate. Attacking from behind (or while invisible, etc.) against an opponent who is completely unaware will grant a +4.
- Weapon Damage: As written in book 1, all weapons do 1d6. In order to prevent odd results from this (such as everyone packing daggers due to their inexpensiveness.) I have modified this somewhat. Poor-quality weapons are less expensive, but have some drawback. Examples: Quarterstaves cannot be used one-handed, daggers and slings do only 1d4 damage. Large, two-handed weapons are slightly more expensive and require both hands. However, for a hit with these weapons I will roll 2d6 damage and take the better of the two results.
- Two-Weapon Fighting: This is generally treated identically to a two-handed weapon. The user rolls two damage dice and takes the better of the two. However, a fighting man only, if dressed in Leather Armor or no armor, may get the benefit of both a second weapon and a shield when fighting two weapons. That is, they can fight Florentine style, and get a +1 to their AC along with taking the better of two damage dice.
- Combat Modifiers & Weapon Damage, Continued: Each weapon has situations in which it is better or poorly suited. In those situations, the +2 or -2 modifier referred to above will apply. It is suggested that in these circumstances (facing a charging enemy with a readied spear, grappling with a dagger or short sword, fighting a wooden enemy with an axe) the player make some note of how they think their weapon will give an advantage, either in the form of an IC statement of intent, or in an OOC spoiler-block, etc. This is not the same as a "stunt bonus" and no particular artfulness is required in the description. This is about how the PC takes advantage of terrain or the attributes of their enemy to use their weapon to its best effect. In extreme cases, the weapon damage might be modified as well.
- Tokens: From time to time and as I feel it is justified, I will distribute to players "tokens," which are worth some amount of XP or may be traded in for a reroll of one die. These will take the place of story or other awards, or awards for exceptional OOC contributions. The player may spend them to gain XP during any portion of downtime. They may be saved between PCs or given to NPC cohorts for XP. Their XP value is NOT changed by exceptional characteristics.
- Cost of living: Each month, each PC must pay 1% of their XP total in cost of living type expenses. The amount spent will be indicative of the PC's lifestyle, with larger amounts indicating greater use of prostitutes or gigolos, wine, narcotics or hallucinogens, gambling, opulent luxury, and similar debauched pursuits. (The assumption is that sword and sorcery heroes run through money like water; if your PC is of a particularly ascetic disposition, we may assume the funds are expended in some other way.) Depending on the amount spent, I may waive the cost of trivial expenditures such as rations and torches. A PC may always spend more than is required in order to live at a higher grade of profligacy. Cost of Living expenses can effectively cease once a PC's stronghold is established, for any period during which they are in residence.
- How to apply your Experience Points for monsters, coinage, gems and jewelry: Keep a running total during the adventure of experience for monsters slain. Each individual award will be rounded up if there is any fractional remainder. When the PCs achieve the relative safety of a town or city, and have an opportunity to make a sale of their loot (whether it is sold or retained), then treasure shall be assigned by the party to individual PCs. This is a matter entirely separate to whom might be tasked with carrying the treasure out of the dungeon and back to town. At that time, each PC will take the total they have gained from monster-slaying, add it to the monetary value of their assigned portion of the treasure, and apply any bonus or penalty due to their prime requisite. This is the time when the experience points actually accrue, and PCs may level.
- Each time a PC gains an experience level, they may add one point to any attribute of their choice. The only limitations are that they may not increase the same attribute twice in a row, nor may they increase one past 18. Adding a point of Intelligence immediately grants the character so doing fluency in an additional language, although Draconic still requires a base INT of 13 to achieve proficiency.
- Adding an additional spell to one's spellbook, other than those gained at leveling up, costs 100 GP per level of the spell.
- A note on terminology: Hirelings are persons, perhaps with some special skill, who are hired for a fairly specific task. They are paid for a period, and are usually not willing to take any great risks. Henchmen are a grade above. Henchmen demand higher pay, but are willing to at least pretend to some personal loyalty to the PCs. Henchmen generally will go into the dungeon with PCs if need be. The highest grade of NPC is a Cohort. Cohorts are loyal, willing to adventure, are members of some PC class and are capable of gaining XP and levels. They must always be sworn to a specific PC. A player who loses their character may activate one of their Cohorts as a new PC, so channeling treasure into a Cohort can be a valuable insurance policy against starting over at Level One.
On magic items, sale and experience value
The sale of magical items is fraught with peril. Their value and specialization means that one cannot simply go into a shop and start haggling; a buyer must first be obtained. Once the word goes out that an item of power is for sale, the possibility of thievery (or assassination pursuant to thievery) must be addressed; many desperate individuals will crave such a valuable object. By extension, flashing around magical items in any circumstance is probably unwise. The other option is rare and unusual markets where neutrality is enforced by entities of substantial supernatural power.
In any event, while the price obtained (via barter or outright sale) will always be variable, no XP is gained for the sale of a magic item, nor for its "value" as such. Instead, each month at the time of paying their upkeep costs, the PC owning and using a magical item will receive bonus XP dependent on the power of items in their continuous possession. Magic arms and armor will grant 100 XP per plus, rings and other continually worn items will grant a similar award in proportion to their potency. Potions and scrolls will grant XP only once, to the user of the item. Items giving a variable plus (such as a +1 sword that is +3 against trolls) will give the greater value after any month in which the specially designated creature is fought with the weapon.
A PC can gain this award only once per item type per month - one weapon, armor, ring, etc. Wondrous items of a particular non-personal function (such as a bag of holding) do not grant XP, but are of course quite useful in their own right.
Magical swords are thoroughly distinct from other magical weapons. They will almost invariably have special powers and attributes, are likely to be intelligent or possess an alignment, and their basic bonus applies only to-hit, and not to damage. While an enchanted hammer may aid immeasurably in the workaday battering down of foes, even the least of magical swords brings some peril along with power.
Experience Totals
Classes need the following XP totals to gain levels.
Fighting Men
- Veteran: 0
- Warrior: 2000
- Swordsman: 4000
- Hero: 8000
- Swashbuckler: 16000
Magic Users
- Medium: 0
- Seer: 2500
- Conjurer: 5000
- Theurgist: 10000
- Thaumaturgist: 20000
Clerics
- Acolyte: 0
- Adept: 1500
- Village Priest: 3000
- Vicar: 6000
- Curate: 12000
Encumbrance
Because I disdain bookkeeping of all types in my gameplay, we are going to use an even more simplified version of the system given in the books. I will include encumbrance adjustments due to strength. If, looking over your sheet, it is reasonable to suspect that you have no issues with encumbrance, do not bother calculating it. The only time it should matter is if I note that a PC is ridiculously overburdened, and in the context of how much treasure a character may bear. Treasure is frequently quite heavy!
Encumbrance is measured in coins, and it affects your movement rate. The basic movement rates are as follows:
- An unarmored character, or one in leather armor, moves at twelve scale inches per round.
- A character in chain mail armor moves at ten scale inches per round
- A character in plate armor moves at eight scale inches per round.
Other than this, do not calculate your armor into encumbrance. It is already reflected in your base movement rate. Now, add together your other items carried.
- A small weapon such as a dagger constitutes 20 coins.
- A flask of oil is 25 coins, a vial of holy water 5.
- A normal hand weapon such as a sword, axe, mace, up to 3 javelins, a bow with arrows, a crossbow with bolts, a score of darts etc. constitutes 50 coins.
- A two-handed weapon constitutes 100 coins.
- A helmet is 50 coins, a shield is 100.
- A spellbook is 50 coins.
- Add in 100 coins to represent your pack of equipment - rations, torches, waterskins, ropes, door spikes, etc. If I consider your miscellaneous equipment genuinely excessive, I'll add to this on an ad hoc basis.
- A coin is 1 coin, a gem is 1 coin unless specified otherwise.
- An item of jewelry will normally be 20 coins
Add together all of your carried items. Carrying 1000 coins or more will your movement rate by 25%. A character with 2000 or more coins will be at half speed. A character exceeding 3000 coins will have penalties as I see fit.
However, characters may also have an adjustment due to strength. A character with a low strength will ADD coins to his encumbrance, to represent the fact that it takes less real weight to penalize him. A character with a high strength will SUBTRACT coins from his encumbrance, representing the amount of weight his musculature can bear as though it were nothing.
- 3 or 4 strength must add 100
- 5 or 6 strength must add 50
- 7 through 9 strength takes no modification
- 10 through 12 may subtract 50
- 13 through 15 may subtract 100
- 16 may subtract 150
- 17 may subtract 300
- 18 may subtract 500
Basic proficiency list
- Fighters: Can use any weapon under the sun, including siege machinery given some time to familiarize themselves.
- Clerics: All armor. Blunt melee weapons. Slings.
- Magic-Users: No armor. Daggers, staves, darts.
Equipment/Price list
Melee weapons
- Dagger or Quarterstaff* 5 GP
- Normal one-handed weapon (spear, mace, axe, sword etc.) 10
- Big two-handed weapon (unavailable to dwarves) 15
- Silver Dagger 50
Ranged weapons
- Short Bow 25
- Long Bow 40
- Composite Bow 50
- Light Crossbow 15
- Heavy Crossbow 25
- 20 Arrows or Darts 10
- 30 Quarrels 10
- 1 Silver-Tipped arrow 5
- 1 Silver Sling Bullet 5
- 1 Silver Staff-Sling Bullet 7
Conveyances and packbeasts
- Mule 20
- Draft Horse 30
- Light Horse 40
- Medium Warhorse 100
- Saddle 25
- Saddle Bags 10
- Cart 100
- Raft 40
- Small Boat 100
- 1wk feed 5
Armour
- Leather Armor 15
- Chain Armor 30
- Plate Armor 50
- Helmet 10
- Shield 10
Other
- bedroll 5
- 50' Rope 1
- 10' Pole 1
- 12 Iron Spikes 1
- small sack 1
- large sack 2
- leather backpack 5
- waterskin 1
- 6 torches 1
- lantern 10
- flask of oil 2
- 3 stakes & mallet
- steel mirror 5
- silver mirror 15
- wooden holy symbol 2
- silver holy symbol 25
- vial of holy water 25
- bunch of wolfsbane or belladonna 10
- garlic bud 5
- 1 quart wine 1
- 1 wk iron rations 15
- 1 wk normal rations 5
- 1 sheet of paper/parchment 3 sp
- 1 sheet of vellum 1 gp
- common quill 1 sp
- high-quality quill 5 gp
- vial of good ink 2 gp
- inkstone 5 gp
- inkstick 1 gp
- gem or ring, 5% markup
- magic scroll, 100 gp & 1 wk/level
Languages
Every PC knows the common tongue. For each point of Intelligence above ten, they may know one additional language. Below I will list some possible languages; ask if you have other nominations.
- Goblin (Works with any of the goblinoid races)
- Fey (For fairy and forest type creatures)
- Draconic (The tongue of dragons - 13 Int minimum to achieve fluency)
- Giantish
- Old Amaranthian (Dead language, was spoken in a widespread sorcerous empire)
- Thracian (A mostly dead language, spoken by a widely-traveled group of seafaring kingdoms. Still spoken in some isolated colonies.)
- Elven
- Dwarven
- Primalingua (Spoken most frequently by angels, demons, and other powerful spirits. Useful in incantations, ambitious players may use Latin to indicate it in IC posts)
- Elemental (the various elemental types speak slightly different dialects, but this will allow communication - the PC should pick which dialect they have greatest familiarity with)
- The Moon Tongue (The common speech of the lands across the great ocean)
- Reptilian (Language of the degenerate lizardfolk. They had an advanced and powerful civilization in the mists of history, but the tribes still living can no longer even read the writing on the walls of the great ziggurats their ancestors raised.)
- Necrosian, being the common language of the dead.
Setting Essays
Here will be posted the occasional essay that I write about the setting. If it seems piecemeal, that's intentional. I don't want to define too much.
Gworg's Giants
Gworg the Unwise has deemed it advisable to have a contingent of soldiery following him about. Their descriptions are here.
The Wyzardly Encyclopedia
Items of Historical Interest
Here are maintained an archive of material from the earlier incarnation of the game, when it was being run under OD&D rules.
- Here can be found the original character sheets: The Wyzard Runs OD&D: The Slayers
- Missing, Retired, or Dead PCs
- Campaign Miscellanea
