Holmesian Non-system: or Who cares how you roll intiative?

I gotta be honest with you: the Holmesian initiative thing I prattled on about the other day doesn't really evoke a sense of Holmeliness to me at all.  Not in the least.  Indeed, this sort of granular rules-tinkering in general seems to defy all-that-is-Holmey about Basic D&D.  To me, no particular rules could possibly evoke Holmes, because when I played Basic D&D back in the day, the rules were only vaguely understood and were almost irrelevant to the experience.  All you needed was a rough grasp of the core concepts of a> role playing and b> using dice as arbiters of action.

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=913789

 
What made that old blue book special to me was the sense of adventure it evoked.  Just look at that cover; I distinctly remember the feeling of awe I had when I first laid eyes on it: the way the dragon was looking right past Malchor the magicuser and Bruno the battler, right at me.  You got the sense that you were part of the party facing the dragon and that if you didn't think fast you were going to be toast.  I think this image made it clear what "role playing" was all about in a much more meaningful way than any Intro to any rulebook in the genre has ever accomplished.

As the Holmes set we used back in the day came without dice, we often got our D&D on using only 6-siders plundered from board games.  We ditched the silly chits as too cumbersome--plus, by the 3rd or fourth session, several chits had gone missing.  As I recall, a 4 or higher on a d6 was considered a hit, regardless of the attacker's hit dice or the target's AC and everything did d6 damage (true to the Holmesian rules, coincidentally).  We may have cobbled something similar together for Saving throws, or perhaps ignored them entirely.  And we assumed that a 1st level magic user could cast each 1st level spell once, 2nd level MUs could cast all the 2nd level spells, etc.  It seemed completely obvious that that was how magic was supposed to be handled, there was no need to delve through the text to decipher the precise meaning of the author.  Basic D&D was a means of exploring the world in a brand new way, not a collection of rules to be tampered with and argued over by a pack of middle aged men with ADD.

Advanced D&D changed all that.  Daddy Gygax made it clear that our free-wheeling ways were the wrong way to play, and we were only too happy to absorb the new, more sophisticated rules.   We quickly digested the hardcover tomes, though, like everyone else, we couldn't swallow a few things like psionics, segments, speed factors, and about two thirds of the DMG.  But sadly, we were no longer explorers in the ways of gaming, now we were more like middle managers toeing the corporate line while foisting grief on our underlings.

So when I say that Holmesian Basic is the Official Rules of Record for the Holmsmouth Urban Megadungeon Project, it has nothing to do with how you determine initiative, how fast zombies move, or even--amazingly enough--what type of hit dice thieves get to roll.  It has more to do with a feeling fostered by the sometimes--often--cartoony artwork of Tom Wham and the Daves than by how many seconds are in a melee round.  Or with the sense of old school horror brought on by the Thaumaturge with the caged ape in his lab and the green flames that engulfed crazy old Zenopus's tower all those years ago, which was a big change for us kids who were still giddy from watching "The Empire Strikes Back" in its original run.  We were exploring not just a new genre--fantasy--but also a new way of playing games.

Holmes-ish Inititative

I've been using Holmes Basic as the Official Rules of Record for my systemless Holmsmouth Urban Megadungeon Project cuz, well, it's in the name, among other reasons.  But despite having cut my teeth on Blue Book Basic back at the dawn of the 80s, I really haven't played it since.  So I've been brushing up on it lately, and, of course, there are a few things that I've gotta mess with.

Initiative is going to be the first target of my tinkering. (After thief hit dice of course).  For those not in the know, Holmesian initiative is a straight-up comparison of Dexterity scores of the combatants.  This means that Holmian initiative is individual--not team--based.  And, once established, the order remains fixed: no re-rolling each round since there's no rolling to begin with.  And it also means that if you have a high dexterity you are likely to get in the first blow every time.  And, probability being what it is, there are going to be a lot of folks tied-up around the 9-12 range.

But what it also means is that you're going to have to roll up a dex score for every orc, kobold, and displacer beast that decides to take on the party.  And then you'll have to track each one of your uniquely dextertied critters throughout the combats.

That, for me, is a deal breaker in itself. But there's still one more nail in the coffin: the implied assumption that the 3-18 ability range that we use for  humans and their ilk would be applied universally for all creatures from purple worms to pixies, zombies to giant ants.  [Actually, maybe not zombies; isn't their a rule that they always lose initiative? Or is that in AD&D?]  Who ever heard of a cat with a 7 dexterity?  Impossible right?

I want a score that:

1. Reflects all the various things that go into making you quick on the draw; things like your size and your general quickness, and, most importantly
2. It has to already exist in the rules; I don't wanna be making up new statistics here.  You figured this out yet? 

Movement.  Think about it, it already takes into consideration things like your size and quickness.  Long legs allow you to cover ground more quickly, but at some point the cumbersomeness of your limbs starts to slow you down.  As illustration of this principle, famous sprinters you have heard of are pretty much all between 5'8" and 6'2" tall; at 6'5", Usain Bolt--the current 100m world record holder--is an outlier.*  Giants have very long legs, but have far surpassed the optimal balance between size and quickness, thus they move at the same rate as humans even though they're twice as tall.

*Hence yesterday's post, in case you were wondering what brought that on. No idea how tall that Tiritelli dude is.

So your move in olde school "inches" will be the baseline.  Actually, Holmesian basic lists movement in feet, e.g. elves move 120', dwarves = 60', etc.  Just drop the trailing zero for the same result.  You're going to get an awful lot of ties though, since every dude in chainmail and every orc are going to have the same initiative value.  So we're going to add a couple of variable to the mix: your dex adjustment (In Holmes it's +1 for dex of 13 or greater, -1 for 8 or less, I believe) and a randomizer, also known as a roll of the dice.  But, in keeping with the Holmesian method, you don't re-roll every round; just once until the combat comes to a meaningful ending.

The Holmesy-Dice Chucker Initiative Formula:  

Initiative = Movement + Dex adjustment + Randomizer (d4,d6, or d8 based on hit dice)

Yes, the initiative die rolled is dependent on your hit dice; MUs roll 4-siders, fighters roll d8, thieves and clerics d6 (thieves only get d4 in Basic D&D,you say?  Then you haven't been paying attention). In fact, I'm thinking of extending HD to also include damage rolls: fighters would do d8 damage with whatever they use as a weapon, thieves (and clerics I suppose) do d6, and MUs will always plop down the pathetic pyramid for combat results.

Anyway, this puts encumbered folks at a serious disadvantage, which I'm ok with.   At least this is a matter of players deciding how to allocate resources rather than a result of a single die roll made during k-jen that will haunt/bless your character for the rest of eternity... or until they die on the 2nd level of Skull Mountain. 

Matt Tiritelli: Wiki Record Holder

This is why I love Wikipedia:

From wikipedia 100 metres, October 8, 2013, ca.3:45 PM PST, but it won't last long.

Who is Matt Tiritelli, you ask?  According to wikipedia, he's the fastest man on the planet.  This dude ran so fast he didn't just shatter Usain Bolt's record by an entire second, he caused an anomaly in the space-time continuum that rippled all the way back to 2009 and negated Bolt's achievement altogether!  Damn, that's fast.

Big Changes at Dice Chucker Caverns

No, not a management shakeup--we're still squirming under the iron thumb of Timrod the Tyrant.  And no technical upgrades either; I'm mooching off the neighbor's wifi as we speak.  But we have, finally, removed the hyphen from Dice Chucker in the title.  That makes things seem a lot less... hyphenated around here.

Also:  we're hoping to release the first of many modules based on the famous Holmsmouth Urban Megadungeon campaign. Thanks to all of you who funded my k-starter drive to get that project fired up.

Actually, if someone could come up with a way to donate time instead of money that would be awesome.  I don't mean time as in "Sure, I'll spend a few hours inking your maps for you."  Rather, I need to set up some sort of temporal stasis account where I can just spend so many hours working on creative endeavours without having to worry about real life concerns like eating, sleeping, aging, etc.  Anyone figured out a way to do this?

30 Second Challenge

These self-indulgent 20-questions type circle-jerk posts usually make me feel rather slimy when I take part in them, and the 30 day challenge is even more repugnant because it's, ya' know, dragged out over an entire month.   But since I like to talk about myself as much as the next guy, I'm jumping on the bandwagon anyway.  I haven't got a whole damn month to dedicate to this wankfest, so I'm going to crank the whole thing out in just 15 minutes.  That gives me 30 seconds per question, so here goes:

1. How I got started: Holmes, December 1980; I was 11.  I had a halfling with a crossbow.
2. Favorite playable race: Sub-half gnomes
3. Favorite playable class:Thief.  Are there non-playable classes?
4. Favorite Gameworld: Fronteirs of Alusia.  when I'm not trying to be obscure: Greyhawk
5. Favorite set of dice/individual die: those waxy clunkers that came with basic D&D sets back in the late 70's and very early 80s/the 12-sider being the best of the bunch
6. Favorite Diety [sic]: South Beachy
   
7. Favorite edition: Hackmaster.  Haven't actually played it but any game that has barding for your dolphin on the equipment list has struck gold in my book.
8. Favorite character played: My favorite character was a female elven f/mu.  She was the only femail character I ever had, was one of very few spellcasters, and she was an elf: I hate elves.  All those together made her pretty unique in the pantheon of my characters.
9. Favorite character I haven't played: Finn the Human
10. Craziest thing that's ever happened: no time for this one
11. Favorite adventure you have ran [sic]: I "have ran"?  Who edited this list?
12. Favorite Dungeon type/location: Urban Adventure
13. Favorite Trap/Puzzle: Mouse/Jigsaw.
14. Favorite NPC:Yahweh
15. Favorite undead: the lowly skeleton
16. Favorite Abberation: is Abberation an aberrant spelling of aberration?  Again with the editing.
17. Favorite animal/vermin: Shrieker--I know it says "animal/vermin," but they don't have a fungal category--or an ooze/slime category for that matter.  Which makes me think maybe those things fall under "Abberation"?
18. Favorite immortal/outsider: Uhhhh...  huh?
19. Favorite elemental/plant: zzzzz ... next.
20. Favorite Humanoid/natural/fey: Brownie.  No, pixie.  Ah, who cares.
21. Favorite Dragon: Brass, cuz no one gives them any respect.  Seriously, can you name their breath weapon without looking it up?  Also, they tarnish easily.
22. Favorite monster overall: Bulette.  I love anything that eats hobbits.  Ankhegs too.
23. Least favorite monster overall: Drow. They might be more appealing if they regularly dined on hobbits.
24. Favorite energy type: That wave-generated shit seems pretty cool.  Geothermal is nice too.  Solar would be awesome if we could count on the sun to be more present.
25. Favorite magic item: +1 sword, sorry running out of time.
26. Favorite non-magic item: Ballista
27. Character I'd like to play: Thundarr the Barbarian
28. Character I will never play again: Ookla the Mok
29. Number I always seem to roll on 20-sider: 21.  Yes, I'm that awesome.
30. Best DM I've ever had: Your mother. Boo-yah!

 And that's a wrap.  Thanks for stopping by everyone; have a safe ride home.

Great Mysteries of Greyhawk: The Invoked Devastation

It has long been known that the Rain of Colorless Fire was wrought upon the Suloise in return for the Invoked Devastation which befell the Baklunish.  And all along we've assumed that it must have been the Suloise who Invoked The Big D, but if you read the histories, this conclusion is far from certain.  Check out the actual quotes on the matter of the Devastation from the World of Greyhawk Gazetteer (Gygax, 1980).

From the Brief History:

“When the Invoked Devastation came upon the Baklunish, their own magi brought down the Rain of Colorless fire in a terrible curse” p. 5

From description of the Dry Steppes:

“Once the area of was well-watered and fertile... but it was destroyed by the Invoked Devastation in the war with the Suloise.” p. 21

From the description of the Sea of Dust:

“In return for a terrible magical attack, the Suloise lands were inundated by a nearly invisible fiery rain...” p. 26

And that is all that the Gazetteer has to say on the matter.

What's clear is that a not-insignificant portion of the Baklunish lands were devastated by a terrible curse, and that the Bakkies* let loose an even more thorough and complete devastation on the Suliemen in the form of the Rain of Colorless Fire.  But nowhere is it definitively stated that it was actually the Sulies who Invoked the Devastation that started the Great Cataclysm Race, leaving open the possibility that a third party was responsible for The Big D.  But who?

*Is it racist to call them Bakkies?

Well, how about the Oeridians; they were also victims of Bakluni expansion, the turmoil of the war having forced them to flee their lands and head east into the Flannaes.  As there is no mention of the Oeridian homelands in the gaz, could it be that any evidence of their native lands was wiped out by the Devastation?  Perhaps Oeridian mages left a curse upon their fertile homeland which was triggered by the departure of the last Oeridian peoples.  And, not wanting to incite a rain of colorless fire on their own asses, they decided to keep mum on the topic.

Or was it the Flann?  They too suffered heavily from Bakluni expansionism as their once peaceful lands were stampeded by refugees of Oeridian and Suloise stock alike.  Perhaps Flannish devastationists teamed up with dwarven demolitions experts, gnomish telemarketers, and elven poets to unleash the Devastation in hopes of stemming the flow.

Or even the Bakluni: The text from the Brief History in particular seems to lend itself to the interpretation that the Devastation was something that the Bakluni may have brought on themselves.  Perhaps while developing their apocalyptic technology they accidentally unleashed the Devastation on their own lands.  Undeterred, they sharpened up their game and let fly the Rain on their enemies. Or maybe it wasn't an accident; maybe they went all Guernica on some minority population in their realm--like the Oeridans--and then took it a step further, blamed it on the Suel, and used it as provocation for unleashing the Rain del Fuego sin Color, sort of like how Poland provoked Nazi Germany into starting WWII. 

Or, indeed, it might have been the Suloise all along.  The cataloguers of the Gazetteer may have been restrained in ascribing the Devastation to the Suloise because the RoCF was so thorough and widespread in its destruction that no Suloise who were in-the-know about the Big D survived to take credit for it.

Bibliography:
Gygax, E. Gary. World of Greyhawk Gazetteer, 1980. TSR Hobbies, Inc., Lake Geneva, WI

The Rain of Colorless Fire

Everyone's familiar with this famous photograph taken by one of the only survivors of the Rain of Colorless Fire on his way out of town:

What have we wrought?

Look at this dude's posture: he seems calm, one hand resting on the battlements, the other covering his downcast face.  Is this the posture of a man in shock or horror at the holocaust he is witnessing?  To me, his demeanor has always suggested that the Suel people knew that they'd earned this fate.  After the centuries of exploitation and tyranny and the Devastation they'd just Invoked, this dude's demeanor was evidence that the Suel knew that the time of reckoning had finally arrived.