Under Hill, By Water Post 2: No Adventurin'!

No Adventures, Thank You

The flow of a Under Hill, By Water game is a little different than a standard dungeon-crawling game. You're not some stupid burglar going into troll caves and dragon-infested mountains. You're just a respectable halfling trying to be a good person. Even so, unpleasant and uncomfortable things can happen in one's life. Here are the rules for them. 

Animalis

This skill is important to train, control, and understand animals. Halflings generally have better leeway with the domestic animals they raise and train than with wild animals, but this skill is a viable way to calm down a hostile wild animal and escape the scene. 

Herbalism

Halflings are farmers and think a lot about the growing things of the earth. Herbalism takes this a step further with a knowledge of healthful plants and their properties. 
Use this skill to find herbs in fields and forests and make a poultice. This takes a Turn to do. 

• During combat, a successful use of this skill and a poultice will stabilize a character with negative Blood. If they don't take any more damage, they will stay conscious. 
• During times of rest, a successful use of this skill will raise a wounded character from negative Blood to 1 Blood. 
• During times of rest, a successful use of this skill and a poultice will heal a character (with at least 1 Blood) 1d4 Blood points. A wounded character can only benefit from a poultice once. 

Lore

Any halfling can remember what happened back in the summer of '44 when the white wolves came, or recount the hilarious story of their fat uncle Barnabas getting stuck in the well. Test this skill when the halfling is trying to remember or dig up half-remembered stories and legends from the ancient days when halflings weren't so secluded and the old king yet reigned. 

Halflings only speak the Common tongue, with little scraps of their ancestral tongue mixed into their truism and sayings. When a halfling comes into contact with another language, they get a chance to see if they can speak it by making a Lore roll. A character gets one attempt to know any particular language. If that one attempt fails, the character simply does not know the language.

Professions 

Halflings who work and live in the Commonwealth gain ([Profession rank]d10 x 10 copper) + (1 silver x rank) each year during the winter phase. 

Halflings always have access to the products of their profession for half-price. A rope-maker, for example, could outfit an expedition in lengths of rope. If your profession doesn't produce "goods" (like, say, sherrif or actor) you probably have other advantages. At the very least, you're friends with others in your profession and can hire them as hirelings at half cost. 

If a halfling PC sells his goods during game-play, subtract the total he makes from his year-end profits. 

Singing
Songs are important part of the Commonwealth. There are work songs and drinking songs and bathing songs and walking songs. Anybody PC can tap into this vast network of songs by singing (or at least saying) a stanza of a song outloud to everybody else at the table. You can plagiarize a Tolkien song or make one up--whichever suits you best. If you do so, one PC at the table can benefit from one of the following effects:

• Regain d4+Cha bonus Sweat 
• Gain advantage on one attribute or skill test
• Gain advantage on a Tears roll

Singing takes a Turn. A character can only benefit from the effects of a song once per season. 

Sleight of Hand
Picking the pockets of an unaware person, hiding a small object from a search, readying a weapon without any observers noticing, swapping out an object on a weight-sensitive plate with a similarly-weighted bag of sand, these and more are examples of Sleight of Hand. A character has a base 1 in 6 chance to successfully perform such an activity.

Stealth

Stealth allows a character to sneak around and hide. Stealth is not invisibility. A character must be hidden and his position unknown in order to use this skill. 

A halfling is considered to have a Stealth skill of 6 against any non-halfling if they are in the Commonwealth. 

Their usual skill rating is only used when trying to sneak past other halflings. 

Swimming

Halflings can't swim. Any halfling that falls into a body of water has a chance of drowning Drop the character to -1 Blood and roll Tears to see if they fall unconscious and fall beneath the waves. Every round in the water requires a successful Strength check to try and splutter to shore. 

Tinkering

Manipulating small mechanical objects is an activity called Tinkering. Tinkering is often used to open locks or remove small mechanical traps. 

Other uses of Tinkering (setting traps, for example, or jury-rigging impromptu devices) should be adjudicated by the GM on a case-by-case basis. Remember the Let it Ride rule. 

Woodcraft

This skill allows characters to find water and hunt for food. Halflings don't travel often outside the hedges of the Commonwealth, but foraging and hunting is a useful and profitable hobby, sport, and job. Use your Woodcraft skill to forage and hunt (per LotFP rules) and avoid getting lost if you're ever have the misfortune of being in the Deeping Woods. 

Everything not covered by a skill isn't considered insider information. They can be covered by attribute tests in general. For example, climbing up a sheer surface is just a Dexterity test (halflings are fairly good at stuff like that). 

Halflings don't usually encounter locked doors (that can't be opened by knocking politely) or traps. We don't need rules for that sort of thing. 

Fisticuffs and Wrasslin'

Halflings are, by a whole, a peaceable people. Still, they practice some warcraft ... or at least war games. Harvest festivals often feature quarterstaff duels (called "stavin'"), with the loser being flipped into shallow water. The old halfling men who play at being in an army call themselves the Knights of the Old Road and ride around on their hounds or pigs, bearing bent lances. 

Sometimes, though, halflings have to use arms in earnest. Wolves sometimes try to steal game during the winter. Sometimes the Big Folk will get drunk and need to be ejected. A hundred years ago, a score of goblins crossed the water, stories of which are still told to this day.

Initiative
When combat breaks out, it is usually unexpected for all sides. If one side is expecting it and the other isn't, it's an Ambush. See those rules below. 

During the first round of combat, things are a bit hectic. Fists are flying, mugs of ale are getting knocked over, damage is being done to property and person. Each individual combatant rolls a 1d6 and adds their Dex modifier. Higher numbers move first. If there's a tie between a NPC and a PC, the GM determines who goes first. If there's a tie between two PCs, they decide among themselves. 

All other rounds of combat proceeds in the following order:

1. Missile weapons - Anybody wielding a missile weapon who wants to make a ranged attack goes first
2. Large or wild creatures - If the halflings are fighting NPCs larger than them (dwarf or bigger) or wild creatures (wolves, giant rats, wild boars, etc.), they go during step 2
3. Halflings - Halflings engaged in melee go last. If the PCs are fighting another gang of halflings, each side rolls 1d6. Whoever rolls highest goes first as a team. 

During a combat turn, every acting character has about as much time as needed to move about 30', make an attack (or equivalent), and perform some minor action. 

If an Ambush happens, the ambushing side goes first as a team. All damage done by the ambushers during the first round of combat bypasses Sweat and goes directly to Blood. Thereafter, combat proceeds as normal. 

Missiles

To make a missile attack, the attacker tests their Dexterity. This roll is made with a -2 if their target has at least medium armor and -2 if their target is carrying a shield (these penalties can stack). 

Missile attacks like bows and blunderbusses harm Blood directly and bypass Sweat. If the attacker rolls a natural 1, he automatically hits and rolls double weapon dice. 

Melee

To make a melee attack, the attacks tests their Strength and the defender tests their Armor Class. 

• If the attacker succeeds at his test and the defender fails at his test, the attacker rolls their weapon dice against them. 
• If both the attacker and defender fail, the attacker may choose to perform a special maneuver against the defender (see maneuvers below). 
• If the attacker fails and the defender succeeds, the defender may choose to perform a special maneuver against the attacker. 

If the attacker rolls a natural 1, he rolls double weapon dice and attacks Blood directly, bypassing Sweat (if he hits).  

Maneuvers

Several maneuvers give d4 bonuses to subsequent rolls. Just put a pack of d4s in the middle of the table. When a maneuver is used that gives the bonus, pull one from the pile and place it on your character sheet. After it's rolled, put it back in the middle. 

Aim - You gain a +d4 to your next attack roll. 

Clobber - You gain a +d4 to your next damage roll.

Disarm - Your target drops one thing that they're holding (their choice). 

Evade - You gain a +d4 to your next armor class roll. 

Grab - You hold on to your opponent to try and get them good. Your very next attack against them bypasses Sweat and goes straight to Blood, unless they Shake You Off or damage you first. 

Knockback - Your target is kicked back into a direction of your choice. If this would put them in mortal danger (like falling off a cliff), they get to make a Dexterity saving throw. 

Shake Off - You can cancel somebody's Grab maneuver with this maneuver. 

Trip - Your target can't move away from you next turn. 

I know I promised professions and family details, and those are still forthcoming. BLAMMO

Check out the full game here!

Under Hill, By Water

Under Hill, By Water

In a hole in the ground there lived...

(Psst. I actually published this game in a fuller form. Check it out here!)

The OSR is pretty metal. And metal rules. But it's fairly far away from the source material of Tolkien and the eclectic, rustic, anachronistic little British gentlemen that were the center of his stories. This is an OSR hack--mostly from Lamentations of the Flame Princess--that's about living in the under-hill homes of the halflings. It's about being simple and silly. If you leave the high border hedges of the Commonwealth, you've left Under Hill, By Water. Pull out a different ruleset and start playing that. 

Core Rules

[They] are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. ... Even in ancient days they were, as a rule, shy of 'the Big Folk', as they call us, and now they avoid us with dismay and are becoming hard to find. They are quick of hearing and sharp-eyed, and though they are inclined to be fat and do not hurry unnecessarily, they are nonetheless nimble and deft in their movements. They possessed from the first the art of disappearing swiftly and silently, when large folk whom they do not wish to meet come blundering by; and this an they have developed until to Men it may seem magical.

Roll under your attributes to succeed in a check.

Saving Throws are attribute checks that you make in a wink of an eye to avoid some catastrophe. Roll under an attribute per normal.

Let it ride. You cannot make a check more than once, until something significant changes.

If somebody helps you, roll with Advantage (per 5E). If you fail and something bad happens, you both suffer the consequences.

Actually just steal all the Advantage/Disadvantage rules from 5E. They are good.

Attributes

Enjoy the normal spread: Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha

Use the LotFP spread for a score of 3-18, with a modifier from -3 to +3. 

Blood, Sweat, Tears

Every halfling of the Commonwealth has three additional stats: Blood, Sweat, and Tears. 

Sweat is your ability to dodge away to minimize the brunt of attacks. Attacks remove damage from Sweat first before it hits your Blood.

Blood measures your frail body's ability to absorb abuse. When attacks damage your Blood, you're getting hurt.

Any attack that removes half your maximum Blood or deals maximum weapon damage to Blood causes a serious wound and drops any remaining Sweat to 0. Describe what this wound is and how it hurts your halfling.

If you're at full Blood, you can spend a Turn eating and resting to regain Sweat. Roll your Blood dice and refill your Sweat up to your max.

If you've taken Blood damage, you can spend a Turn eating and resting to regain 1 point of Blood.

When you’re dropped to 0 Blood or below, you start using your Tears dice. Each round, you attempt to roll a number higher than your current negative Blood. When you fail, you pass out.

Another halfling can try and roll Herbalism to try and heal you. If they succeed on their roll during combat, you succeed on your attempts to stay awake. If they succeed during a time of rest, you go from negative Blood to 1 Blood. Until you pass out, you can crawl away and hide, but any round that you exert yourself (by attacking or running and helping your friends), you actually lose another point of Blood.

If you pass out, decrease your Tears dice by one step. Your Tears step is permanently set lower. It never goes back up. You're just older and weaker now. 

Skills

Under Hill, By Water uses the following skills, each of which begin with a 1 out of 6 chance. 
Animalis
Herbalism
Lore
Stealth
Sleight of Hand
Tinker
Woodcraft
[Profession] - Dependent on the profession of the halfling

Creating a Character

[I]n the days of their peace and prosperity they were a merry folk. They dressed in bright colours, being notably fond of yellow and green; but they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leathery soles and were clad in a thick curling hair, much like the hair of their heads, which was commonly brown. Thus, the only craft little practised among them was shoe-making; but they had long and skillful fingers and could make many other useful and comely things. Their faces were as a rule good-natured rather than beautiful, broad, bright-eyed, red-cheeked, with mouths apt to laughter, and to eating and drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted.

Roll 3d6 in order: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. 

You can switch any two. 

Note bonuses based on LotFP. 

If the total of all your character's attribute modifiers is less than zero, discard that character and start again. 

Choose a stock: Dulkeen, Vohnkar, Aldwin

At rank 1, your Blood is set by your stock. If your die is d6, you get 6 + Con Blood. If it's a d8, you get 8 + Con Blood. If it's d10, you get 10 + Con Blood. Your Blood score only changes if your Con score changes. 

At 2nd rank, you start worrying about Sweat. You roll a Sweat dice every time you achieve a new rank. Add the roll + Con bonus to your Sweat total. 

Everybody starts at d12 Tears. Every time you're at death's door, the die type of your Tears goes down by one step (from d12 to d10, from d10 to d8, from d8 to d6, from d6 to d4--where it stops). 

Fuck Alignment. You're a halfling. You probably have good, nice feelings about most of your neighbors, except your mean old cousins. 

Roll (or choose) a d50 profession. Note the bonus to your skill. Note your starting equipment. 
[Forthcoming...go steal from DCC if you're antsy]

Roll (or choose) a d66 family name. Note your starting equipment. Note your ancestral home and its features. 
[Forthcoming] 

Roll 1d6 + [Cha modifier (if positive)]d6 starting silver. Don't buy anything yet. Just put it in your pocket. 

Choose a name from the name list.  

Concerning Halflings

Rather early in their history, halflings separated themselves into three "stocks." These are basically your classes. They're measured from 1-10, per the halfling ranking system. (Steal them. Hack them. Adapt them.) 

At  rank 1, every halfling begins the game with a Blood ranking as the sides of their Blood dice + Con modifier. 

Starting at second rank (and every other time you rank up), roll your Sweat dice + Con bonus to gain a Sweat score.

Halflings don't make their own weapons, as they've never warred among themselves and their days of struggle against the Outside World have passed into cloudy legends. They put farm implements to martial use, when they have a need, or buy weapons from dwarves. Halflings, due to their size, use medium weapons two-handed and can't use large weapons.

Halflings use the Stealth roll only against other halflings. If they are a) in the Commonwealth and b) hiding from other creatures, they treat their Stealth rating as a 6.

Rank
Instead of tracking levels, halflings of the Commonwealth track their rank. 
Ranks go up once a year if your halfling has gained at least 3 XP that year. If the halfling hasn't gained at least 3 XP by the end of a year, he resets his XP to 0. 
Halfling stocks are measured from rank 1-10. Anything more than that is probably superfluous for a game of Under Hill, By Water. 

You gain an XP when you do one of the following:

• Defeat a bad beastie 
• Throw a big party
• Get married (first time only)
• Have a wee one (first time only)
• Solve a mystery
• Put an end to any queer business

Every halfling is referred to by his rank. They are thus:
1. Rascal
2. Master / Miss
3. Mister / Mistress 
4. Goodman / Goody 
5.  Selectman / Selectwoman
6. Gentle / Lady 
7. Esquire
8. Ealdorman / Ealdorwoman
9. Mayor
10. Thain

Stocks
All halflings are members of one of three stocks. 

Dullkeen
"But Nelwyn spirits and Nelwyn hearts and Nelwyn minds bore little relation to the bodies that housed them. With every hand against them, in a world shaped for creatures many times their size, they took on the characteristics of the land they made their home. They were tough, they endured; above all, they adapted." 

Dullkeens are the most common stock of halflings in the Commonwealth. They are not as tall as the Aldwins, nor as stout as the Vohnkar. They have curly hair of brown or black on their heads and their toes. They have long clever fingers, joyful red cheeks, and easy laughter. Dullkeens sometimes live Overwater as man- or maid-servants of the humans that live there, whom they call the "Big Folk." Indeed, they get along rather well with humans. Dullkeens are hard workers and throw themselves into whatever their task is with their whole heart. 

• d6 Blood / d6 Sweat
• Dullkeen begin rank 1 with 4 extra skill points, placed as they wish.
• Each rank up, Dullkeen gain 2 more skill points.

Vohnkar
"Among the Wise I am the only one that goes in for hobbit-lore: an obscure branch of knowledge, but full of surprises. Soft as butter they can be, and yet sometimes as tough as old tree-roots." 

The Vohnkar are a stock of hearty, swarthy, tough, and stout little halflings. They're the heaviest of the three stocks, being inclined to eat. Vohnkar mix often with dwarves and do a good trade with them; it's said they might have a little dwarf blood in their veins. In addition to furry toes, Vohnkar have hair on the back of their hands and the men have bristling side-whiskers (they're the only halflings who can grow facial hair worth a damn). 

• d8 Blood / d10 Sweat
• Vohnkar add their Dexterity bonus to their AC even when wearing medium or heavy armor.
• Vohnkar use d6s instead of d4s for maneuver dice (see Combat)
• Vohnkar can roll a saving throw with advantage a number of times per day equal to their rank.

Aldwin
"It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife."

Aldwins are the tallest and thinnest of the three stocks; it's said by other halflings that they're criminally under-weight. They have light-colored eyes and tend to have blonde hair. Aldwins, more than other stocks, are given to wandering--especially in the woods and especially at night. Sometimes they meet elves there. Sometimes the elves will sing with them. 

• d6 Blood / d4 Sweat
• Aldwins can cast Knacks. Knacks count for all purposes as a 1st level spell, but Aldwins never forget them. They can cast them indefinitely.
• Aldwins don't use spellbooks. They are natural (if humble) magicians.
• An Aldwin begins play with one random Knack. They learn one additional random Knack each time they rank up. 
• Aldwins may not cast Knacks while Heavily Encumbered. Aldwins must have one hand free to cast a Knack.

Knacks

For each Aldwin at the table, set out two coins--both facing heads up.

When a Aldwin casts a Knack, flip a coin face down.

When a coin is face down, the GM can use one of his Balance Moves against the players by flipping the coin's face back up. He does this at opportune moments, or just when the players are on a flow of good luck. (It's important for stories to have both ebbs and flows.) He can do this when it makes sense narratively. He can do this whenever, as long as one of the coins tails up.

Why mess with the Balance Coin in the first place? To cast Knacks. Aldwins can cast any known Knack if he flips the Balance Coin. 

Doodlebug

If you follow your dowsing rod of willow, you can find anything that you're looking for, as long as its within the bounds of the Commonwealth's hedges. 

Augur 

By looking at signs and portents, the Aldwin can guess at the future. He may ask the GM, "If X happens, will Y happen?" The GM will answer him. 

Hand

This Knack lets the Aldwin manipulate something they can see as if they had their hand on it. They can lift objects or call them to them through the air. 

Naming
This Knack reveals a living creature's name to the Aldwin. 

Torch

If cast on a piece of dry oak, this Knack will create a torch that casts light only for the halfling holding it. It creates no heat, but otherwise is treated like a normal torch (and will go out if dropped, if dowsed, etc.). 

Spark

Using this Knack is as good as having flint, tinder, and time to start a fire. If something can burn naturally, it'll start right up. 

Speed the Work

If nobody is watching the Aldwin, they can perform about an hour's worth of work in the space of a Turn. 

Canny

The Aldwin's player can ask if the last thing he heard was a lie. The GM will answer honestly. 

Evil Eye

The Aldwin meets somebody's gaze and gives them ol' Evil Eye. This is a bad scandal in the Commonwealth. The next time that person would roll a skill check, they fail. For halflings, this usually means the next bit of work they do is ruined. Butter curdles. Ropes fray. Ponies escape their pens. Sometimes buildings collapse. 

Whispering

The Aldwin can speak to an animal like any other halfling for a Turn. The animal can tell him plainly what his complaints are. Domestic animals will obey an Aldwin giving him commands with this Knack. Wild animals won't. They're wild, after all.  

Mimicry

The Aldwin can use this Knack to repeat or imitate any sound he knows so well that anybody would be fooled. 

Whistle-Way

If he whistles continually, the Aldwin can use his right hand as any type of common tool (hammer, awl, saw, bore, etc.) for a Turn. 

Balance Moves

Ok, so the Aldwin is using Knacks and being a weirdo. What's happening because of that? 

• Storm clouds gather at the horizon. The weather gets worse.

• Something smells your magic and comes looking for you. Roll on the wandering monster table. 

• Bad luck. Make your roll with disadvantage. 

• The stars are wrong. The GM turns a failure just rolled into a great failure. Instead of missing the dragon, your sword is shattered on its hide. When trying to swing across the gap, you fall and crack your head.

You'll notice that a lot of the situations that Balance Moves might prompt an Aldwin to use more Knacks. This feeds into a vicious cycle.

It might be better to do nothing...

Coming Soon: Family Names and Professions

GM Principles

I know I've all but abandoned this blog, but I've been focusing most of my creative writey time on chewing on my fantasy heartbreaker project. Stupid, I know.

Today, in flagrant disregard of my writing agenda, I started toiling away in the ubiquitously included "GM Chapter" of the rulebook. I know enough about my own writing processes to let my fingers type whatever they want to type. If they have something to say about GMing, so be it.

I found the clear articulation of a GM's Agenda and Principles in the *World games to be more than just good game design--they seemed like a Good Idea. When I ran Dungeon World, I wrote down the game's principles on index cards and put them in front of me. Whenever I was looking down to check my notes or roll some dice, they were there to remind me about what sort of game I was playing and what my players could expect from me. It became such a habit, I've started writing down GM principles for just about every game I've ran since.

Since justifying a game's existence (a heartbreaker in a sea of heartbreakers) is the author's central job, I thought it was probably important to write about the GM's principles, the game's themes, and my design goals. As such, I've included my list of GM principles for His Majesty the Worm.

GM Principles

There are two dozen different styles of role-playing games and no two tables play those styles exactly the same. This game has been designed to work well with certain overarching principles of game design and table talk. I’ve found it useful in my home games to be very upfront about these principles and keep them in my mind while I run the game—I go so far as to write them down on notecards and keep them in front of me as reminders. Of course, your table is going to be different than mine, but His Majesty the Worm benefits from the following “best practices.”

Rulings, Not Rules

Ultimately, no rule system completely encapsulates every possibility of player action—and that’s the fun of RPGs: there are fringe cases, strange situations, and unconsidered possibilities that inevitably arise during play. Having a GM be able to arbitrate these situations is one of the advantages of tabletop games compared to computer games. As such, all the rules of the game are a resource for the GM to use and adapt from, not a straight-jacket.

When unexpected questions arise, GMs can adapt the rules to fit the situation at hand. When that situation comes up frequently, the GM and the table can collaborate on turning that ruling into a more hard-and-fast rule. And, when hard-and-fast rules seem to fail the tests of common sense, verisimilitude, and fun, it’s the GM’s responsibility to make calls that change the rules for the better.

Sidebar: Arbitrating Rules Questions

OK, but what should be done if there is a genuine rules dispute during gameplay? One of the GM's duties is to arbitrate these questions and decide how the rule should be played. If you're still learning the rules, you might want to look them up every time until the flow of narrative and mechanics feels natural. If you have the rules down pretty well, but encounter a speedbump, we offer this suggestion: arbitrate in favor of the players, and look up the rule later. Don't slow down a fun combat with page turning. Just make a temporary rule that is beneficial for the players, and ask your best rules lawyer at the table to look it up after the combat is over.

Let Smart Plans Work

HMtW is not a game of balanced encounters. GMs don’t have to make experience point banks and dole out appropriate levels of monsters or treasure. The player heroes should find themselves alone in alone in a large, daunting, dangerous, and fantastic world. There’s no expectation that the players are ever in a “level appropriate” place.

The game—and the character sheet—are actually pretty simple. There are few numbers, and not a lot of special powers or abilities. Players should feel empowered to experiment and take risks, with all the rewards and consequences that that entails. There are no “spot checks,” only players describing where and how they’re searching. There are no “disarm trap” skills, only players describing how they move the knife across the tripwire or tap their ten-foot pole ahead of them.

As the GM, you can give difficult situations to the players with no idea how to solve them yourself. The players will surprise you with their ingenuity and problem-solving skills. When they come up with something surprising and cool, let it work.

Engage the Senses

The principles of “Rulings Not Rules” and “Let Smart Plans Work” only work when the players have a good sense of what is going on. Since the players are not actually in the shared hallucination, they need the GM to tell them as much information as possible about the environment their heroes are acting within. GMs should paint pictures with their descriptions, actually sketch out rooms when mental pictures are difficult to conjure, and be vivid about all five senses. GMs should not leave out any salient details about things that players can see, hear, feel, or smell.

Speak Generously

“Engaging the Senses” flows from the idea that the GM is acting in good faith to the players. GMs should not fall into the trap of thinking that doling out half-secrets and hints are interesting. Information sharing games are only fun when information is actually shared. Maybe the information comes with a price (“You’re not sure if the dragon is truly sleeping or only faking it. You’ll have to move closer to get a better look at him…”), but when it comes time to pay the piper, GMs should give the players as much information as he can. “Gotcha” moments are not fun.

This is particularly true when players Bid Lore. If you accept a lore bid, you have a social obligation to speak generously to the player and give as much information as is appropriate.

Meaningful Exploration

Decisions in an RPG should be interesting, not arbitrary. It is essential that, during the Crawl, the GM provides meaningful choices so that exploration is fun and engaging. Nobody cares about taking the left path or taking the right path. The players don't have enough information to make an informed or interesting choice. A coin flip could determine the "best" way to go. However, you could put graffiti on the walls of the right path that says in Orcish "Undead ahead! Do not enter! Turn back! All is lost!" For the left path, you could hear the distinctively peacock-esque cry of the cockatrice. Now the players have an information to make a decision with: would they rather face a basilisk or the undead? What are they most prepared for? Could they lure the undead towards the basilisk?

When travelling, gloss over details or choices that aren't interesting. Don't describe every hallway or room. Players spend a turn winding through tunnels or rooms towards their ultimate destination, and the GM can describe their journey in a sentence or two. Only zoom in on the action when the players have meaningful choices to make. 

Spells are Bad Demons (and they're in your magic sword)

Out in the Far Realms, thoughtforms and concepts are active with intention and purpose. We call them "spirits" in a generic sort of way. The least of these spirits are spells: memetic entities that are basically words that are alive. You might also call them "demons." Spells will serve mortal sorcerers in exchange for observing taboos, which they like for reasons that it's best not to think too long about.

There are only so many spells in the world. Spells are discrete. There are only nine-hundred spells of the first circle. There are only nine spells of the ninth circle, each one unique. Sorcerer's own spells like knights own their arms and armor. And, when you defeat a sorcerer, you add his spells to your own grimoire by right of conquest.

Sometimes, spells get trapped in the Plane of Flesh. Indeed, wizards trap them in spellbooks in the labyrinthine passages of runes frequently. Sometimes, they even take on physical form, which is truly bizarre and frightening to see. That's what a familiar is—just a little spell demon in the flesh. Sometimes they get trapped in items, though. This is what people refer to blithely as "magic items."

Items of power are greatly coveted. Too many people have heard of the farmer Wooton Lye-eye who overthrew the king Grim Nassis with the aid of his magic sword (the story is true, actually). They are equalizers to the sorcerer's mysterious power.

Unfortunately, you can't force a spell into an item of power. Magic items are not made or forged. You have to trick a spell into a magic item, which is hard. Being in a magic item is torturous for them. They hate it. But spells are bound by their natures, and if you can somehow get it to promise to inhabit an item, they can't break this oath.

Every magic item is discrete and unique. Every one is alive. Well, that is to say, they're alive because spells are "living." Humans (and even elves) have more in common with slugs than they do with spells. But its worth noting that each magic item has a will. It has things it likes and things it doesn't like. It has an agenda. And, ultimately, it wants to be free—each magic item seeks to be unmade.

Alright What Are We Talking About

• Every item of power has a spell trapped inside of it. 
• When wielding the item of power, you can cast this spell if the magic item is charged. Casting the spell discharges the item of power. 
• Items of power are either charged or uncharged. 
• Items of power begin begins day charged.
• Items of power also become charged when their bearer fulfills one of the item's passions. 

Passions
Every demon has a passion. Every demon wants something. Some want to depose kings. Some want to give money to beggars. These actions are how it eats and breathes. When the bearer of an item of power helps the demon fulfill these actions, the magic of the item is rekindled.

1. Death of a particular race/monster/hair color/religious group/social rank
2. Destruction of religious artifacts, scripts, and art
3. Destruction of ego via self-debasement and disassociative drugs
4. Publicly accuse an innocent person of a capital crime
5. Discover (or destroy) long-lost secrets and forgotten things
6. Giving away large sums of material wealth to the poor/specific institutions/to people who fulfill bizarre criteria
7. Eating something never before eaten
8. Sex with something pretty weird

All items of power also share one passion in addition to their unique goals: being destroyed. If the bearer ever takes a risk that significantly risks their life (say, at least a 50% chance that they would seriously fucking die), the item of power is charged as if their passion had been fulfilled. 

Anyway, here are three items of power currently lying at the bottom of some dragon's hoard, quietly praying for death. 

The Shield of the Black Spiral

Sir Theo of Thorns managed to trap demon Bra'el in his spellbook shield instead of banishing the demon back to the Far Realms. It was Bra'el's general supposition that Sir Theo further his goals under his diabolical influence--a supposition that proved mostly true. 

The Shield of the Black Spiral is a metal kite shield painted with a jagged black spiral curving in towards its center. The back of the shield contains several spellbook pages pasted to it, for ease of reading mid-combat. 

Magic: The shield can cast Hypnotize against one opponent facing its uncovered surface. 

Passion: To deny pleas of mercy--the shield becomes charged if its bearer ever denies someones request to be spared on the battlefield.

The Helm of Hern

The greater daemon known as the Green Man forced one of his subservient spells into the Helm of Hern in order to fulfill one of his own bargains with the wood elves of the Candlewood. The helm is made of leather, and features two projecting antlers cresting from it. As a helm, its wearer can elect to have it destroyed (permanently) to turn a hit into a miss. 

Magic: The helm can cast Bloodlust* on whoever wears it. 

Passion: Aiding animals--the helm is charged if its bearer provides aid, succor, or healing to an animal. 

Mourn 

The last surviving sword of the legendary three blades forged by Region the rune-king, Mourn was most famously carried by the Unborn Hero and presumed to be buried with him (though the location of his tomb is unknown). 

Mourn is a long, black sword forged of meteoric iron. It is continually cold to the touch; gripping it with bare flesh causes 1d6 frost damage. If emerged in water, the water will freeze over the course of several moments. 

Magic: Mourn can blast a death ray from its tip. 

Passion: Killing family members--Mourn will become charged if the bearer ever slays a member of his own dynasty. 

* Wonder & Wickedness, p. 34

Alternate Damage Dice

One thing that I liked about Dungeon World was that each class had a different damage dice. It made sense to me--a fighter is so skilled and so well-trained that no matter what weapon he picks up, he'll be wielding it with deadly accuracy, even as the conservative mage will be pinging away with whatever staff he grasps in his ancient, withered claws.

I liked that rule in DW because having different damage die per weapon has niggled me for a while. It requires a double-think on the part of the verisimilitude of what damage and HP mean. Consider:

• Hit Points are abstract. They represent how much moxie and luck and chutzpah a character has to absorb near misses and glancing blows. They're not really you getting hit--at least not in a meaningful way. 
• Different types of weapons will cause varying degrees of tissue damage. A handgun is going to cause a different wound than a chainsaw. A big ass claymore is going to cause a different wound than a nunchaku blow. 

These two ideas aren't entirely congruous. 

Moreover, despite having a fairly abstract combat system, D&D's weapon choices were often rather bland. Sure the quarterstaff has the two-handed and versatile weapon properties, but...so what? In several editions, I found that the group was usually choosing the same weapons because "they were the best" mechanically. That kind of sucks, doesn't it? Shouldn't your weapon choice be thematically appropriate and representative of your character's fighting style? 

Anyway, this here isn't anything groundbreaking, but it was an idea that I had on a walk this morning. If I was ever going to run a Oriental Adventures-esque game, I'd probably shop these as house rules. 

Signature Weapon

Each player character chooses a signature weapon. The barbarian might choose the double-handed axe or the claymore, while the thief chooses the dagger--or visa versa. 

When wielding your signature weapon, you deal d8 damage. If it's a two-handed weapon, you deal d10 damage instead. 

Trained Weapons

If you're wielding a weapon that you're proficient in (but isn't your signature weapon), you deal d6 damage. 

Untrained Weapons

If you're wielding a weapon that you're not proficient in, you deal d4 damage. 

Shuriken

Shuriken means "hidden sword." Throwing stars or daggers weren't really designed to do massive amounts of damage, but throwing a small blade into your opponent's face when they're not expecting it can be pretty effective. Therefore:

If you use a new improvised weapon for the first time during a campaign, you deal d12 damage. 

If you use an improvised weapon for the second time, it's treated as a trained weapon (d6). 

Each subsequent use of that improvised weapon deals d4 damage. 

So, the first time you're in a bar and decide to pick up a bar stool and smash it over your opponent's head, you deal d12. But barstools aren't really made for weaponry, so the gimmick gets old quick and each barstool attack will yield diminishing returns. However, if you'd like to throw the boar's head mantelpiece or a fisherman's net or a roof tile or a dead goblin, the first time you use those you also get to roll a d12. Players should utilize the environment in interesting ways.  

In this system, the damage dice represent "threat" and "skill" more than their wrecking power.

If you want to see two house rule systems for LotFP that treat weapons differently/interestingly in ways beyond varying damage dice, check out Last Gasp Grimoire and Ten-Foot Polemic.