Files Updated; Card Progress; Schedule
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 28, 2022 at 01:49:05 PM

File Update u20220928

I pushed out updated files for all four PDFs today. Till Death Do Us Part probably changed the most; Dragon Hunt! the least. None of the updates are critical, but they include tweaks to stats, items, and spelling.

Card Progress!

Yesterday was mostly consumed by a minor medical issue for my daughter, who was roughhousing properly with her friends and managed to bruise her ribs in the process.

Nonetheless, the card data is entered and the initial spooling complete. That means I've got 125 cards to go over individually, checking each one for accuracy and layout.

125 and not 160+? Not sure what's up with that. I do need some repeat cards so "three peasants" or "four hobgoblins" can be treated as "remove card when monster dies." But if there are missing entries, I'll plus them up. This may cause a slight delay as I'll need new art to go with new cards.

Schedule

So, with the PDFs in their second and likely final iteration and the cards making their way to completion and distribution (at least in PDF form) targeting Monday...it's time to wrap things up.

I'll send emails to all UK HUB backers who are poised to get physical rewards, do a forbidden fruit check, and the like today. Surveys must be validated, locked, with proper addresses by Monday. I'll be placing manufacturing orders for those books early next week, and I'll be ordering maybe 2 more than I need, so orders will be reverted to digital if not taken care of by the end of the weekend.

The US HUB folks have a bit longer, as I have to wait for cards to be finalized and printed. I will, however, be placing manufacturing orders for the books at the same time as the UK Hub order...it's just I intend to get some surplus for these so I don't have to be as pesky with order closure.

Pending Edits to Till Death Do Us Part
over 1 year ago – Tue, Sep 27, 2022 at 12:13:06 AM

I got some playtest/proofing feedback, and made the following changes to Till Death Do Us Part:

• Shirin got a Charisma boost to 15 and a [+1] bonus in her stat block
• Shrin's THAC0 adjusted from 17 [+2] to 19 [0] as befitting a 1st-level fighter
• Taran's bonus for CON 15 is now listed [+1]
• Added a bit of a boost for healing and recovery if Derya is present; she's known to have a background in healing
• Listed a 400gp value for a black pearl ring
• Changed XP values for the griffon and warp beast to their correct values
• Added an asterisk to Frog Folk Hit Dice to account for a special ability and support their listed XP
• Fixed a missed paragraph mark and numbering in para 151. Also fixed missing hyperlink to 151.
• Added lance charge to knight stat block

I'm going to hold off pushing too many "final file" downloads, so expect an update at week's end.

All Four Primary Files Distributed; Errata Reports
over 1 year ago – Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 08:16:39 PM

Files are In Your Mailbox!

The four PDFs that are part of the primary pledge have all been distributed!

You can find them in the Digital Downloads section of your Backerkit account. Once the project is complete, I will also push complimentary copies through DriveThruRPG, but that's best done ONCE at the end for sanity and completion.

Reporting Errors

There's almost always something that slips through. Sometimes it's a typo, or a bit of formatting. Something like Hit Points instead of hit points (OSE doesn't capitalize hit points), or hit dice instead of Hit Dice (but it does capitalize Hit Dice!)...or even writing 9 gp or 14 hp instead of 9gp and 14hp (no space).

I have an Errata Page on my website for submission of rogue issues, and that's the preferred method to get them to me so that I can track them, understand the nature of the issue, etc. Posting them in comments may or may not be seen.

If you have a slew of them (and I hope not - we tried to be careful), an email with a word or text file that says "p. X: Change [this thing] to [that thing]" for each change is encouraged for sanity's sake. Just email it to me at gamingballisticllc at gmail dot com and I'll update.

Not Errata. Some of the changes, such as the addition of supplemental grappling rules or the tweaks to vampires in Vampire Hunter Belladonna are not errors even if they go against the rules. "I would have done this differently were I the author" is not errata, that's just a legit style difference (and there's lots of those).  Things like saving throw levels being wrong, armor class not adding up for characters with armor, DEX bonus, and the like? Those are errata and shall be fixed. Stylistic choices (such as sometimes using sentence fragments or beginning a sentence with "and") may or may not be changed.

Cards are Next

Next up is the fairly tedious process of creating the PDF for the Quick Reference cards. Every card needs to be hand-tweaked, so it's going to take a few days, I suspect. Once that's done, I'll push those, review any errors there, and then start the process of getting everything ready for hardcopy manufacturing. I'll update again then, as that will be an important milestone, after which it'll come time to start ensuring mailing addresses are correct and finalizing orders so the physical stuff can be shipped accurately.

The First Transport is Away...
over 1 year ago – Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 05:11:49 PM

I got done with Dragon Hunt! earlier than expected, so I decided to distribute it today. You should see an email from Backerkit.

The other three files are still moving along on schedule, for distribution between now and Monday.

This would be an excellent time to poke roughly 47 people about surveys, too.

Back to work for me! Enjoy the weekend.

General thoughts about Old School Solo Adventures (by Robert Douglas, playtester extraordinaire)
over 1 year ago – Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 05:11:46 PM

There are many great TSR and OSR adventures, yet not so many excellent programmed (branch- ing path) solos. Perhaps this is not surprising, as there is an exacting list of requirements:

• Accuracy in links and structure
• Lean paragraphs which inform and inspire
• A variety of outcomes depending on player actions and skill (and luck) in combat
• Challenging but not frustrating
• Exciting adventures in their own right.

Nor is there a tradition as per, say, Tunnels and Trolls.

It follows that a collection of top class solos for OSE is especially welcome.

David Pulver has written a quartet of solos based on classical themes, but with enough twists to keep them fresh. I have only played The Fantasy Trip versions of Dark Lord's Doom (DLD) and Till Death do us Part (TDduP), but low level Dungeons and Dragons (D+D) fought with warriors is close enough for me to confidently recommend both.

Examples of superior D+D adventures that use a military campaign as an epic backdrop are few and far between: Red Hand of Doom and Dark Sun's Road to Urik come to mind. DLD can be added to the list, with all the elements you might expect: a heroic stand on a bridge, scaling the battlements, a bar brawl, possibly a daring rescue and a final confrontation with the Dark Lord himself. It is an ideal first solo adventure, as there are chances to reinforce after losses, enough choice within the context of following orders, and your actions determine the final outcome.

Escort missions can be difficult to turn into enjoyable adventures, sometimes the person being protected takes centre stage too often or is annoying to the players. (The Labyrinth Lord adventure Kingmaker is a fine exception.) In TDduP the players are in control:

• There are three main routes and the PCs choose where to go (and may hop between them)
• They pick and choose their combats, but if Shirin, your charge, does not approve you will have less inuence with her as events reach their climax

Will the PCs prioritise duty, love or profit? There are an exciting number of different endings you might reach.

Vampire Hunter Belladonna (VHB) and Dragon Hunt (DH) could both be described as solo hexcrawls, with a mission described in the broadest terms: “kill vampires" or “hunt dragons.” Beyond this, PCs have freedom of movement and action. These are higher level adventures fighting foes with formidable abilities met in a variety of circumstances.

I've been involved in playtesting D+D conversions for both, and Douglas Cole has done an admirable job. The trick is to make the encounters manageable in the solo format, without becoming samey.

In VHB, Belladonna, vampire slayer, master poisoner and cook (!), has a limited number of powerful magical items which she must use wisely. Other undead feature, but most of the memorable combats are against the fanged ones, who vary between the feral and the suave/seductive.

Douglas has wisely called on his expert modelling of grappling to differentiate the charmers and the beasts before they deliver that blood (and level) draining bite.

Dragons are fierce opponents in any case, but in DH they like to perform a “King Ghidorah manoeuvre" of grasping their foes, flying high, and dropping them as well as toasting and ripping off limbs. Terrain is often important and there are helpful diagrams. In both adventures it helps to map, and there are enough rumours from locals to keep play moving.

For those wanting to experience high level OSE play, classes other than those of the pregenerated characters could be used, and there is guidance on this.

Old-School Essentials is following in the footsteps of many B/X clones and filling in details to produce their own version of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Necrotic Gnome seem to have done this particularly well with their OSE Advanced Fantasy Characters. The solos are easily adaptable to those classes; the trio of Knight, Fighter and Ranger fits the escort group in TDduP like a glove, and a Ranger would be a welcome addition to a DLD squad. An Assassin might want to hunt vampires, and what sort of Paladin would turn down the challenge of a dragon?

Solo adventures have the glorious quality of seeing lots of actual play, and it be would inspiring if people were to share their play reports, how they triumphed over a red dragon, or ingloriously got paralysed by a giant wasp.