Out Of Character

[acodispo]

Welcome back ehiker133! We're getting the band back together.

This forum desperately needs a "like" button!

You're telling me!! So good to see words that have been typed by you again, WOTE!

acodispo liked this

[mushgnome]

The Blues Brothers or Love Handle??

I had to google the "Love Handle" reference. Ha!

Phineas and Ferb is a must see cartoon for all ages!

I wanted to watch Baby Yoda so I bought a Disney+ subscription, which includes Phineas and Ferb. I probably don't plan on watching the whole series but I skipped ahead to the "getting the band back together" episode. Goofy fun stuff; I enjoyed it! The secret agent platypus was pretty random. Trivia fact that Ferb is Jojen Reed from Game of Thrones!

[mushgnome]

I forgot to mention that Kiplyn rolls 1d6 = 4 hit points and Dame Simonetta lucks out with 1d6+2 = 8 hit points! I'll update my google sheet accordingly.

[rredmond]

Perry the Platypus is a pretty important part of that show. It's silly though for sure, but in a very smart way.

[mushgnome]

Proposed Rules Tweaks for the Second Adventure

For your consideration and comments:

Nomenclature of Turns and Rounds

I would like to switch nomenclature to exploration "turns" and combat "rounds." These terms are just more familiar and comfortable to me. A personal preference.

Rest Turns

Hobbet Heroes suffer no penalty for skipping rest turns. Basically, let's consider the rest turn rule optional and ignore it as needed, to keep the story flowing.

Wounded Hobbets can regain 1 hit point by taking a 10-minute rest turn and eating a day's rations. This ability cannot be used more than once per combat encounter or hour.

Hirelings and henchmen will expect 1 rest turn per hour, and after any combat encounter. If they are not allowed adequate breaks, their loyalty may be tested.

Languages

English is the "common tongue."

Additionally, all Hobbets are fluent in "Hobbet-Speak" which is a coded dialect of English, consisting of clever puns and riddles that Humans find incomprehensible.

Player Characters gain 1 bonus language per point of Intelligence above 10. Bonus languages can be chosen from the standard fantasy languages (Dwarf, Elf, Goblin, Orc, etc.) or from real-world languages (French, German, Latin, etc.).

Bonus languages need not be selected at character creation. The first time a character with unfilled language "slots" encounters a new language in the game, they may attempt an Intelligence check to see if they conveniently happen to know that language. ("Let me see that map. I recognize these runes! I had a pixie pen pal back in my school days.")

[mushgnome]

Let me give a quick 'peek behind the curtains.' The catalyst for the Hobbet Heroes campaign was wondering, what would a 'Lawful Dungeon' look like? Or more specifically, a dungeon that began its life Neutral (as a natural cavern complex), became Chaotic (as it was colonized by scary monsters), and then was gradually 'tamed' toward Lawful by generations of Hobbet adventurers. That's the origin of features like the helpful equipment cache, friendly graffiti on the walls, the Rules of Adventure Club, keeping it secret from the Humans, and so forth. The Rules might seem silly at first, but they are one of the organized systems by which the Hobbet civilization keeps the dungeon from reverting back to Chaos. Adventuring is almost like a form of dungeon caretaking and groundskeeping.

Our neutral characters Dougal and Noh shouldn't feel left out, like they made the wrong choice by choosing Neutral alignment. Neutral PCs have always been great allies to the Lawful cause throughout Hobbet history. There's no stigma against being Neutral, it's just that you're motivated by some individual purpose other than the cosmic battle to push back Chaos.

I would even consider allowing a Chaotic PC in the future, if the player gave me a satisfying explanation.

I've always been fascinated by the 3-axis alignment system in classic D&D. I personally find it more fun and thought-provoking than the 9-axis system. If I had to give a two-sentence synopsis of what alignment means in my campaign worlds, I would say, "Lawful heroes shine light upon the darkness of Chaos. Dungeon exploration is an inherently Lawful act."

Of course if you've ever played in my campaigns before, you can probably guess that the dungeon is going to get a lot less Lawful and a lot more Chaotic as you delve to deeper levels!

[acodispo]

It's a really fascinating "prompt" for a dungeon, mushgnome, and (at least to me) has led to a unique experience so far. The Lawful elements stand out very strong against the cavern complex (much more so than they would against a "constructed dungeon" motif).

The Law-Neutrality-Chaos alignment has been in my head & I guess maybe in the aether for the last week or so. Brad Murray made a post on the topic yesterday. I too find it more compelling than the later models with the Evil-Good axis added. AD&D was my first exposure to the game, so initially Law/Chaos was for me very much about rules & laws (of mortal society). My own thoughts on the matter (due to the influence of OD&D) are now more oriented to the dichotomy of meaning vs non-meaning. I.e. Lawful creatures & places make sense, Chaotic creatures & places do not (and can not). Most mortals live in a world that is somewhere in the middle, caught between that which they understand & that which they do not.

In any case, I'm looking forward to the lower levels of Hornpipe Hill!

[kipper]

I'll be away from my computer (with no internet access) July 3-7.

[mushgnome]

Safe travels kipper!

[mushgnome]

Cool article @acodispo, thanks for the link!

You know, all my years in the hobby, and love of literature, and I've never read Moorcock's Elrick stories. I'll have to add them to my summer reading list!

Two of my favorite takes on Law/Chaos are from Carcosa and Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The Carcosa approach is that your alignment is determined by your attitude toward the Great Old Ones; nothing else matters. So when Cthulhu arises for example, Lawful people will oppose him, while Chaotic people will aid him and welcome him with open arms. And the LotFP approach is that Law and Chaos are poles of magic, and every human who has ever lived in the "real world" has been Neutral. All Elves and Magic-Users in this setting are Chaotic by definition because The Fae and Spellcasting are wild-card "fairy tale" elements that don't exist in the real world. I like how both these authors are flirting with similar concepts to your understanding of "Law = meaning = making sense"