Absolutely one of the best write-ups of how to manage a dragon encounter in D&D, and even better how to be a great DM. You managed this with a deft touch while balancing between humor and dread.
Reading this game has inspired me to play Delving Deeper myself. I'm going to print out a copy of the three volumes, the ranger rules and the aelwine map so I have somewhere to start and we'll see what happens :)
At least until the Kal Arath Gladiators expansion comes out!
Excellent stuff! The skill system you suggest reminds me of Kevin Crawford's World's Without Number which I use for this precise reason: old school mechanics and foundation (just three core classes: Warrior, Mage, and Expert) with skills and feats (called Foci) to give characters some granularity and customisation (that Warrior with the skill Survival is characterised as a Ranger). It also has some codified combat options (such as allowing one PC to interpose himself and Shield another in battle). In our game world, a Mage is typically accompanied by a bodyguard (rather like an Ars Magica 'Shield Grog') who acts as a shield bearer to protect his employer long enough to get his spells off.
Yeah you can scope any of my solo play articles but here’s the gist:
Red d6 for no, white d6 for yes. Add a third one to either the yes, or the no depending on situational likelihoods, use the difference between the rolls as an indicator of “how much”
Absolutely one of the best write-ups of how to manage a dragon encounter in D&D, and even better how to be a great DM. You managed this with a deft touch while balancing between humor and dread.
Hey! Thanks so much - this isn’t OSE, but it would work there too.
Really appreciate you checking it out and the kind words
Reading this game has inspired me to play Delving Deeper myself. I'm going to print out a copy of the three volumes, the ranger rules and the aelwine map so I have somewhere to start and we'll see what happens :)
At least until the Kal Arath Gladiators expansion comes out!
Awesome!!
Excellent stuff! The skill system you suggest reminds me of Kevin Crawford's World's Without Number which I use for this precise reason: old school mechanics and foundation (just three core classes: Warrior, Mage, and Expert) with skills and feats (called Foci) to give characters some granularity and customisation (that Warrior with the skill Survival is characterised as a Ranger). It also has some codified combat options (such as allowing one PC to interpose himself and Shield another in battle). In our game world, a Mage is typically accompanied by a bodyguard (rather like an Ars Magica 'Shield Grog') who acts as a shield bearer to protect his employer long enough to get his spells off.
That sounds awesome and I keep meaning to check that book out because I hear nothing but good things
You probably mentioned this in another post that I missed, but are you using some sort of oracle thing for solo play with the Delving Deeper ruleset?
Yeah you can scope any of my solo play articles but here’s the gist:
Red d6 for no, white d6 for yes. Add a third one to either the yes, or the no depending on situational likelihoods, use the difference between the rolls as an indicator of “how much”