Dungeons & Detectives

GUMSHOE-like rules for AD&D, which are far more rough and poorly thought out than the excellent Lorefinder. As I ponder running AD&D again for the first time in very many years I find the lack of a skill system, particularly knowledge and research skills, a bit daunting. Recent de-motivating experiences with skill rolls in the otherwise excellent Dark Heresy make me favour GUMSHOE style never roll points pools, and it’s a relatively simple idea. Player characters with a particular skill never need roll to receive information from the GM that pertain to that skill. Initially to an old-school gamer this might seem bizarre. Why not just read the wholegoddamn scenario out to the players, why don’t you? Gah.

But actually the art of figuring out things isn’t in the rolling of dice but knowing to ask the right question. And GUMSHOE adds an additional level of decision making, as you spend points if you believe there is more to known about a subject than just the base line given to you, and you have limited points.

So for example, until the Identify spell came along in Unearthed Arcana, it was difficult to know as a PC what magic items did and as a GM it was always a little awkward to manage them unless you were very meticulous. However, say we have a character called Thego the archeologist-duelist and who has 5 points in History. Upon finding what appears to be a magical sword he examines and, suspicious that there is more to meet than meets the eye about this weapons spends 3 points. The GM reveals that yes, the sword may well be the fabled Nailbiter, created by the ancient war-wizard Thanazdul for his henchman to battle against the Golem foes of his rival. The sword was past from father to son for many generations, as Thanazdul extended his life by necromatic means and retained the services of the henchman’s family. It was lost some 300 years ago, stolen by a band of Ogre mercenaries. The sword has a minor enchantment (+1) against most foes, but against Golems and constructs it is immensely destructive (+4).

The GM decided that the baseline (no spend) would reveal the sword is indeed unusually ancient, 1 point would have revealed the swords name, two points that it was created by Thanazdul and passed onto his henchman and that it was designed for use against specific foes and 3 points revealed that the foes were Golems and constructs. If Thego spent 4 points the extra point would have been wasted.

It’s important, vital in fact, that information that the players absolutely must have to continue the story can be revealed at the baseline. Further points can give more background and flavour in these cases but you shouldn’t hold up the flow because someone didn’t spend or have enough points.

Now that the points are spent, how do you refresh the pool? It’s between the GM and player to come up with interesting refresh opportunities, but Thego might for example spend the evening talking to a sage in a tavern or an afternoon in a old library and the next day wake with a refreshed pool.

One final optional extra, specialization. PCs can specialize in a particular area. This means that they spend one less point, and 1 point clues or information become free, if the area is in their field of specialization, and is always available meaning they always know more than just the baseline.

Rules stuff...
1st level characters receive points based on their class.

Magic-users and Illusionists get 5 points at 1st level and gain an extra 1 point per 2 levels thereafter.

Thieves, Clerics, Druids, Paladins, Fighters, Rangers, Assassins and Monks get 4 points at 1st level and gain an extra 1 point per 3 levels.

Specializations cost 1 point to add to a skill and can only be taken once per 3 levels.

Example skills & specialization

History (ancient, local, regional, military, secret societies, religious, magic)
Magic (elemental, demonology, necromancy, illusion, alchemy, fae, planar, spells, divination)
Religion (pantheon, ancient, planar, history)
Nature (regional, fauna, flora, fae, peoples)
Dungeoneering ( monsters, peoples, underdark, caves, traps, regional )
Military (strategy and tactics, arms and armour, melee
Appraisal (art, jewelry, gems, magic items)

Alternative AD&D Character creation rules

If say, I was to run an old school game, like N1 Against The Cult Of The Reptile God, or something.

1. Choose between picking a class you are aiming for or rolling completely randomly.

If you roll randomly, roll 3D6 six times, and write them down in order against Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma. Then roll a further 3d6 and if it’s higher than your best result replace it.

If you decide you are aiming for a particular class, from Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Illusionist, Thief, Assassin or any of the racial multi-classes you should check the class requirements and then roll 3d6, assigning them to your stats once you have completed. If you failed to meet the requirements, you must pick another class entirely although it is likely to similar. You do not have to stick with the particular race you chose. E.g. if you wanted to play an Elven Fighter/Magic-User but you only got the stat rolls for a Fighter, you can play a Dwarf or Human fighter.

2. Roll on the relationships table, in secret, about the your characters relationship with the character of the player to the left of you. If you get a secret relationship, roll again to find a public relationship that covers the secret one. If you gain gold from the relationship table, make that in secret. You then discuss with the the story behind the relationship. This is repeated around the table, skipping the DM of course, until all player characters have a relationship. If you absolutely hate your relationship, you may re-roll once.

3. Choose a first name, last name, title or nom de plume, which may or may not be related to your relationship with another player.

4. Hit points at first level are always at least half you maximum, so when you roll for hit points if it’s less than half you just take the half value. e.g. 2 for Magic-Users, 3 for Thieves, 4 for Clerics and 5 for Fighters. Rangers however only get this rule on the first d8 they roll, not both so their minimum is also 5. Then add constitution bonuses after this.

Relationships table (d4 x 10 + d10)
Your character...

10	Is the sibling of
12	Is the lover of
13	Is married to
14	Is the parent of
15	Is the uncle, aunt or cousin of
16	Is the childhood friend of
17	Is employed by the family to protect [+d10 g.p.]
18	Is indebted to the family of
19	Is a childhood friend of
20	Is an old acquaintance of
21	Is a firm friend of
22	Competes for the love of a third person with
23	Family’s have traditionally worked together
24	Saved the life of
25	Had their life saved by
26	Worked together for a cruel lord with
27	Was apprenticed to a cherished master with
28	Was hired to guard [+d10 g.p]
29	Was tasked with a quest together with
30	Travelled together with and defended each other from slavers, monsters or bandits
31	Shared a lucky find with [+d10 g.p., shared equally with]
32	Owned a business with
33	Escaped imprisonment with
34	Escaped slavery with
35	Were in the town militia with
36	Were part of the same guard unit with
37	Were part of the same hunting party with
38	Had family members kidnapped by the same slavers, monsters or bandits as
39	Were mentored together wiht
40	Was a former enemies of, but who became friends with
41	[Secret] Murdered a family member of
42	[Secret] Is employed by a family member to watch [+d10 g.p.]
43	[Secret] Is employed by the family to protect [+d10 g.p.]
44	[Secret] Is in love with
45	[Secret] Must prevent from fulfilling some prophecy
46	[Secret] The illegitimate scion or first born sibling of
47	[Secret] Prophesied to defeat some mighty enemy together
48	[Secret] Holds a grudge against
49	Your choice

What I'm working on - Dungeon Masters

I've got a head full of ideas at the moment and two are particularly cornucopian. The first is a tile game based around dungeons, where the players take the role of dungeon masters digging and stocking a single dungeon together. In the points scoring final phase a 'party' of adventurers descend into the dungeon, moving at random, slaying monsters and taking treasure. The object of the game is to have as much of your treasure as possible still in the dungeon, as well as having had your monsters kill members of the party.

Much like Carcasonne there are both competitive and cooperative elements to laying dungeon tiles. There are also some unique 'rooms' that cause special actions to occur in the final stage. Games should be run in the 45-1hr time frame, and the ruleset and will be as simple as possible.

As per usual I have both more ideas than time or money, however I found an online shop selling square white cardboard tiles, so I bought 100 and hope to build a prototype at the very least. I'll be very interested in finding alpha playtesters for this. The very few people I've talked to about in face to face all seem to think it sounds fun.