BFRPG Thief Skills

I really like BFRPG. It's my favorite retroclone, these days. One of my pet peeves is Thief Skills, though. I addressed this in my supplement a bit, but I've been thinking about this subject more.

I believe 1st level thieves should have maybe 30% in every skill (and the standard 80% in Climb Walls). This wouldn't be a huge boost, but they'd at least be near a 1 in 6 chance of actually performing their job function. Increases for the next few levels would be around 5%, then scale it back.

Also, I think all of the other classes should be able to Hide, Move Silently, and Climb Walls. Give them a flat 10% chance to do so, with penalties for heavy armor. It would make more sense to me, at least. Don't let them do thinks like Pick Pockets, though. Keep the actual "thiefly" skills class-specific.

Games Workshop goes even more evil than before

GW has gotten Amazon to remove a novel because it features space marines. Apparently, they think no one but them has the right to publish such material. It really pisses me off. I used to play 40k a lot, and I've read a ton of GW novels (many of which are actually quite good). But legal shenanigans like this really bug me.

As of right now, if you publish a novel featuring space marines, you could have it yanked because of GW. Heinlein and even earlier authors are likely rolling over in their graves.

Story in question

Goblins as fae

The historical goblins were actually pretty powerful faeries. D&D took it's idea from Tolkien, making goblins weak, but even in Middle Earth, goblins are very dangerous. Of course, compared to a 0-level human, goblins are pretty dangerous. Adventurers over level 3 pretty much laugh at them, though. That annoys me, a bit.

Ideas:
1. Goblins have faerie blood. They can all use minor magic. Maybe give them one level 1 spell, such as Dark. Or grant them limited invisibility once per round.

2. Have goblins get level 1 thief skills for free. I think this would work well, and make them nastier without going overboard.

3. Have them use poisons regularly, so that anyone struck by them will be making a Saving Throw.

4. Hobgoblins would be older, tougher goblins. Maybe give them up to 4 Hit Dice, with more Hit Dice meaning they are older and tougher. Any given group will likely have a hobgoblin in it. He would also have access to whatever special abilities normal goblins have.

5. Since goblins are fae, maybe they are neutral or even friendly with elves. This kind of leads to a Summer/Winter Court scenario, though. Evil elves might work with goblins, and they wouldn't automatically hate each other. And maybe some few goblins are actually good guys. Not sure I like that, but it's an idea.

Players as colonists

One setting I think never gets enough attention for fantasy is the brand-spanking new colony. The players are right off the ships. There is a small town and some docks. Go ten miles inland, and it's largely unmapped wilderness filled with savages.

This also allows the players to have a variety of backgrounds. Maybe they came from a cosmopolitan Empire. Maybe it's just a bunch of prisoners dumped off at a work camp (in preparation for the "real" colonists). Maybe one of the players is a friendly native.

Another twist would be that the natives are goblins or elves, and the colonists are humans and dwarves and halflings. Or some other mix.

It would also be cool if the new territory had once been a powerful empire, but was wiped out for some reason. The current occupants are the barbaric remnants of this empire, and at least a few of their old cities lie in ruins not that far distant from the colonists.

sports in fantasy games

Sports in fantasy games are rarely mentioned (they really aren't that applicable to gaming usually), but here's some ideas:

1. Goblin ball. Kick the goblin across the goal line to win! Everyone wears leather armor. Magic and weapons are not allowed. Kicking, punching, and tackling are perfectly fine though. Oh yeah, the goblin gets a dagger.

2. Hold the bridge. Two teams, each in armor and wielding clubs and staves, fight over a bridge. Whoever holds it after 15 minutes is the winner. A popular variant has three teams involved, with one big team in the middle and two smaller teams on each end.

3. Don't Flinch! Spellcasters face off against each other using illusion magic. Whoever steps back loses.

Of course, the winners get money, booze, fame, and girls. Losers also do fairly well, as long as they put up a good match.

Experience from traveling

One of the neat things about the old Middle Earth Roleplaying Game (MERP) and Rolemaster was that characters gained experience points for every mile traveled. This was even calculated by whether they were going down a road or through wilderness (with rough travel granting more experience). I always liked this idea.

Sadly, it has never really caught on in gaming, and in fact, has been removed from the later editions of Rolemaster. Considering just how much stuff you have to do in order to travel through a hilly forested area without roads, I would love to see it added into people's games.

Maybe something as simple as an extra 50 xp for traveling through wilderness for one day. It doesn't have to be a huge amount, but a little bit helps encourage the whole exploration aspect of gaming.

Draugr for BFRPG

A while back I had posted the Skyrim Draugr converted to BFRPG. Since it is now getting included in a monster book, here is a more generic version for people to use.

Draugr
Armor Class: 17
Hit Dice: 9**
No. of Attacks: 1 (weapon)
Damage: 1d10+3
Movement: 30’
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: Fighter 9
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: B, M
XP: 1,225

Draugr are the undead remains of ancient kings. They appear as a skeleton wearing antique plate mail. They wield a two-handed sword in combat. They are only encountered in ancient crypts.

Draugr can see invisible opponents.

Once per turn, they can breathe a cone of ice out to 10' in front of them. Anyone caught in this cloud of frozen mist must Save vs. Spells or be stunned and unable to act for one round. Spellcasters in the midst of casting a spell who fail their Save lose the spell they were attempting to cast.

Draugr may be turned as vampires. Draugr are immune to Sleep, Charm, and Hold spells.

JJ Abrams to direct next Star Wars movie

J.J. Abrams, who directed the newest Star Trek films, has been picked to direct the next Star Wars film. Millions of nerds heads shall now explode.

Art that would make a great game

Some pictures just scream out adventure, and really make me want to game. Here are a few:

 Click on the image for a bigger version.

D&D back on RPGNow as pdf

This is a bit late, but I thought everyone should be aware that many old Dungeons & Dragons books (and a few newer ones) are available at RPGNow. I recommend checking them out! Some are free. If you have bought older pdf versions from a few years back, you can redownload them. The pdf's have also been cleaned up, so there's no more crappy scans to worry about (which happened to me with a few of the books).

Funny thing is over half of the bestsellers are now D&D stuff, and they've only been available for one day. Moldvay Basic is Number One!

For those worried about it, I've used RPGNow extensively, and I've never had any issues with them (other than when WotC pulled it's pdf's a few years back).