Chromatic Dungeons! A Species Preview

[Sacrosanct]

Thanks to some great folks, it looks like Chromatic Dungeons is the name we're going with. It's a great name; I love it.

This week's preview will be species. Please keep in mind that the pages are all in rough draft and aren't final. The art is placeholder, and the cover is just a rough pencil of what the final will be. This is just a preview of the approach Chromatic Dragons is taking.

*Chromatic Dragons is an OSR "clone" meant to emulate the experience of TSR era D&D, by combining the best elements of B/X, 1e, and 2e. It is not a direct clone of any particular edition.

Blog post is here with the details and preview. It's really too large to paste here as text, sorry about that.

 

[TwoSix]

Very interesting! Nothing jumps to mind as being a particular balance concern, although the system seems lightweight enough that I don't think something minor like species features would qualify.

I'm curious, are you planning on using the 14 level class progression of B/X or the 20 level progression of AD&D for this?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Very interesting! Nothing jumps to mind as being a particular balance concern, although the system seems lightweight enough that I don't think something minor like species features would qualify.

I'm curious, are you planning on using the 14 level class progression of B/X or the 20 level progression of AD&D for this?

for the most part a 20 level framework, but like BECMI and AD&D, there are no real level limitations until way up there. But since no one hardly plays at level 30, I'm not spending any time focusing on those levels. you may notice that the species entries are pretty short and not fleshed out all that much. I want to take an approach of B/X in that regard. Keep things streamlined

 

[Laurefindel]

Sweet. I like Chromatic Dungeons as a name

One thing that jumped to my attention - and it may be inheritance from a previous iteration - is that the thief class is unlimited for every species? Nothing wrong with that, and probably thematic with a treasure-seeking game, but I'd be curious to know the reason behind it.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Sweet. I like Chromatic Dungeons as a name

One thing that jumped to my attention - and it may be inheritance from a previous iteration - is that the thief class is unlimited for every species? Nothing wrong with that, and probably thematic with a treasure-seeking game, but I'd be curious to know the reason behind it.

True to TSR era form, the goal is treasure, not fighting monsters. That's where most the XP comes from. So not only is it a bit of a call out to AD&D, but it reinforces that philosophy that anyone can keep getting better at getting treasure.

Also, level limits are very much an optional rule, meant to work for those who want a more true to form clone. default is that there are no level limits for anyone.

 

[TwoSix]

Multiclassing? If yes, species limited?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Multiclassing? If yes, species limited?

Yes. Not species limited. Flat rule. Basically like demi-human multiclassing rules in that XP are split evenly between all levels you possess.

 

[Nikosandros]

Is the species preview available as a download, or just as post on the blog?

 

[Aldarc]

True to TSR era form, the goal is treasure, not fighting monsters. That's where most the XP comes from.

And the greatest treasure is friendship! Right?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Is the species preview available as a download, or just as post on the blog?

It was originally on the blog, but I uploaded it as a pdf from the downloads section of the gaming page. You can find it here directly.