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[Let's Read] The Nightmares Underneath: 2nd Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8078746" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Er8gKvk.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong>A Slight Appendix of Additional Material</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Edition Changes:</strong> Mission-Based Experience, Playing Blackjack, and Additional Professions are only present in 1st Edition. Contest Resolution, Equipment Breakage Rules, and Zero to Hero Disposition were introduced in 2nd Edition. Additionally, the rules for generating settlements and kingdoms in Chapter 1 of 2nd Edition were originally in the Appendix for 1st Edition.</p><p></p><p>The final section of the book contains an array of material that either can’t fit anywhere else or make alterations to the core resolution rules of the game. The material therein is thus optional.</p><p></p><p><strong>Contest Resolution</strong> introduces a replacement of d20 with 2d6 to give attribute modifiers in opposing tasks a more noticeable impact. This is an optional rule in 2nd Edition, but was a lot more common in the default rules for 1st Edition. Additionally, there’s a PbtA style Non-Binary Resolution where the results range from “total failure” to “yes but [insert complication]” to “yes, and [exceptional result].”</p><p></p><p><strong>Equipment Breakage Rules</strong> is a two-way street. Lucky Saves allow a PC to let their helmet or shield break if they’d be hit in the head or arm/torso respectively as a means of avoiding gaining Wounds. Additionally, weapons and tools being used for an overcome roll or save can break on a critical failure (1 or 20 respectively). In the case of a natural 20 hitting an armoured target, their Armour Rating for that armour is reduced by 1.</p><p></p><p><strong>Zero to Hero Disposition</strong> harkens back to 1st Edition, where PCs and NPCs roll a number of Hit Dice equal to their level, with no modifiers for good/poor rest. This gives higher-level characters a lot more staying power.</p><p></p><p><strong>Troupe Style Play</strong> solves the dilemma of an incapaticated PC needing to rest for weeks while the nightmare incursions grow worse. Players create a pool of characters, any combination of whom can be shared as a whole or a certain amount per player. Every time the group takes a new expedition into a dungeon, one PC per player is chosen to form an adventuring party while the rest of the party stays in civilization and performs downtime actions.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mission-Based Experience</strong> dispenses with leveling up from treasure in favor of a more personalized array of accomplishments. A PC levels up by completing 3 missions, and guidelines are provided for a number of complicating factors known as Elements. The higher Level a PC is, the more Elements are included in a mission.</p><p></p><p><strong>Playing Blackjack</strong> dispenses with the use of ability score modifiers for “roll under” actions such as saving throws. A character rolls 1d20 and adds their attribute score. If a character gets 21 or higher they succeed, and 20 or lower fails. In the event that the GM has players who prefer using this means of rolling and others who do not, players must declare “blackjack” before rolling to clear up any confusion.</p><p></p><p><strong>Additional Professions</strong> provides four more classes. The reason that they’re optional is that they imply various aspects about the setting that may not gel with what the GM has in mind, such as explicit nonhuman races.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Berserkers</em></strong> are basically D&D Barbarians. They have an impressive d10 Hit Die, cannot use special abilities while wearing heavy armor, and must spend half their accumulated wealth on earthly pleasures; if they do not they suffer disadvantage on all rolls until they defeat a “worthy foe” (level or greater). They have Skills pertinent to wilderness survival, equipment maintenance, and knowing customs of martial cultures. For special abilities they add their level to attack rolls, treat their Armour Rating equal to their Ferocity score if they have a weapon in hand, and can attack a number of foes equal to their level within weapon range every round. They can make attacks and move as part of this, but can’t attack the same foe twice or reload between attacks.</p><p></p><p>Overall Berserkers are rather simple in play, and unlike D&D Barbarians they are less about raw damage and more being able to take out large numbers of opponents easily.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Disciples</em></strong> are D&D monks. They practice a personal philosophy and gain powers from its ideals. Their Skills are left to the player and GM depending upon their philosophy and lifestyles. They cannot use their special abilities when Encumbered or wearing plate, and must give half the wealth they make to others or in service of their ideals. Their Ideals are chosen from one of four virtues and are a mixture of blatant rules (give all of your money away, cannot sneak up on enemies) to role-playing restrictions (must confront the enemies of civilization wherever you find them, must defend the weak from harm, etc). For basic abilities they have 1d6 Hit Die, add their level to attacks, have an Armour Rating equal to 10 + their level when unarmoured, roll against their Willpower save in lieu of other attributes for phenomena related to mental and physical endurance, and have a number of Special Disciplines equal to 1 + their level + their Willpower modifier.</p><p></p><p>Special Disciplines are mostly at-will or always-on abilities representing the Disciple’s training, and while they may appear magical are in fact mundane in origin. They include things such as being able to hold their breath for a number of Turns equal to their level, advantage on saves vs damaging (and non-damaging for a separate Discipline) spells, able to harm and touch incorporeal creatures and those immune to non-magical damage, can throw enemies or objects a number of feet equal to 5 x their level, able to walk on water, walls, and fragile places normally unable to hold a human’s weight, and gaining a number of additional attacks equal to their Willpower modifier.</p><p></p><p>Disciples are heavily geared towards being mobile fighters, and most of their powers are a mixture of utility vs. offense. The only one that can be potentially overpowered would be the one that grants bonus attacks per round equal to Willpower, but the rest are broadly situational.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Fey Knights</em></strong> take heavy inspiration from the time when being an Elf was a race and a class, specifically a fighter-mage hybrid. However, the class can represent all manner of feylike magical beings who aren’t like other people. They have 1d6 Hit Dice and earn half Experience, meaning it takes twice as long to level up. They are Skilled in magical knowledge, etiquette, the arts, faerie culture, and equipment maintenance. For special abilities they add their level to attacks, can choose to keep a cast spell memorized (aka not spend a spell slot) by suffering 1d4 Intelligence damage, begin play knowing and is capable of learning spells, and has d6 Psychic Armour.</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, each Fey Knight can choose from one or more Supernatural Heritages, which reflect the type of fey they are and/or their Court. Each comes with one beneficial trait and one hindrance. For example, Dark Elves have advantage on sneaky stuff but their Resentment always starts at 1 in new settlements, while Fall Court fey have advantage on controlling Divination and Illusion spells but disadvantage on controlling Evocation, Healing, and Summoning Spells. Golden Age fey is perhaps the most attractive to mage-heavy types, granting mastery over 1 bonus spell per level but takes double damage from weapons made of iron. Ouch!</p><p></p><p>The Fey Knight is a neat concept, but doesn't feel truly unique given that they’re a blend of existing class features for the most part besides Supernatural Heritage. Their d6 Hit Dice makes them more fragile and pack less of a punch than Assassins, Fighters, and Champions in physical combat, and their halved Experience really hurts. WIth the Chaos Champion already existing and Professions like Assassin getting a magical option subclass, they won’t make for an appealing class in converting to 2nd Edition.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Halflings</em></strong> represent all manner of small folk that seem all the rage in fantasy settings. They have 1d6 Hit Die, get no damage bonus from two-handed weapons, cannot hide or be stealthy when Encumbered or in plate armour, and have less Encumbrance allowance due to their size. They are Skilled in maintaining equipment and households as well as athletic, sneaking, and wilderness survival stuff. When it comes to Special Abilities they can find hidden things like a Thief can, have advantage on saves when their size works in their favor, have one group of weapons as Favored which lets them add their level to attack rolls with said weapons, and have a Luck Score equal to their level that refreshes after a long rest. Luck may be spent to reroll a roll of their own or ignore a die result of damage from any source of harm.</p><p></p><p>To further customize their ‘race,’ Halflings can choose from Morphological Features which are akin to a Fey Knight’s Supernatural Heritage. For a few examples, Gnomes have mastery over 1 Illusion spell per level but have disadvantage when rolling Disposition, and Goblinoids deal 1d8 damage when wielding favored weapons but suffer disadvantage on rolls when influencing people in settlements. Morlock may be a blatantly good option as they can see in the dark (great for dungeon delves!) but suffer disadvantage to all rolls in direct sunlight. Notice that it specifies direct sunlight and not bright light in general.</p><p></p><p>Halflings come off as specialized Thieves but with less Skills. Their Luck is pretty good in that it grants them limited metacurrency that can turn around a bad situation.</p><p></p><p><strong>Random Tables</strong> are well...random tables of all sorts. They include reasons why monsters may be a threat to civilization, physical and personality traits to flesh out NPCs and monsters, tables for a wide variety of items and treasure types, jewelry designs, and the subject of scholarly texts, journals, and other written documents.</p><p></p><p><strong>Money</strong> provides more detail for tracking encumbrance for coins. Generally speaking, keeping coins in pockets and small containers is more encumbering than keeping them in larger sacks and backpacks. Meticulously packed coins and bars count as being even less encumbering than either option. Coins with a hollow center and tied together via a string count half as much for encumbering purposes, and gold coins and bars are ten times more valuable than silver counterparts.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> I have mixed feelings on a lot of these rules, although given their optional nature it may be due more to personal tastes. I do like Troupe Style Play and Equipment Breakage which feels in keeping with the ruleset. The new Professions didn’t leave any strong feelings in me, although I liked the Disciple the most in terms of having many versatile options. Alternate dice resolution material such as Playing Blackjack and 2d6 Contests feel a bit unnecessary, as the ruleset as it is is not that confusing to me. Zero to Hero Disposition can be a good alternative for more “heroic level” style adventures, but given that PCs already have a buffer of “Wounds” may not gel well with the default setting. Mission-Based Experience can be good for groups that want to “level up by plot,” but given that its Elements system introduces a new amount of book-keeping it doesn’t seem a worthy alternative for higher-level play. The loot-based advancement of the base systemworks rather well in my opinion, and there’s plenty of things for PCs to buy with their money.</p><p></p><p>And that is it for the Nightmares Underneath proper! But there is one more thing to review that was included with the 1st Edition PDF. A conversion manual for those who are less fond of the OSR and prefer a system more...Worldly.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we cover A World Full of Nightmares, a Powered by the Apocalypse conversion of the Nightmares Underneath!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8078746, member: 6750502"] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Er8gKvk.png[/img] [b]A Slight Appendix of Additional Material[/b][/center] [b]Edition Changes:[/b] Mission-Based Experience, Playing Blackjack, and Additional Professions are only present in 1st Edition. Contest Resolution, Equipment Breakage Rules, and Zero to Hero Disposition were introduced in 2nd Edition. Additionally, the rules for generating settlements and kingdoms in Chapter 1 of 2nd Edition were originally in the Appendix for 1st Edition. The final section of the book contains an array of material that either can’t fit anywhere else or make alterations to the core resolution rules of the game. The material therein is thus optional. [b]Contest Resolution[/b] introduces a replacement of d20 with 2d6 to give attribute modifiers in opposing tasks a more noticeable impact. This is an optional rule in 2nd Edition, but was a lot more common in the default rules for 1st Edition. Additionally, there’s a PbtA style Non-Binary Resolution where the results range from “total failure” to “yes but [insert complication]” to “yes, and [exceptional result].” [b]Equipment Breakage Rules[/b] is a two-way street. Lucky Saves allow a PC to let their helmet or shield break if they’d be hit in the head or arm/torso respectively as a means of avoiding gaining Wounds. Additionally, weapons and tools being used for an overcome roll or save can break on a critical failure (1 or 20 respectively). In the case of a natural 20 hitting an armoured target, their Armour Rating for that armour is reduced by 1. [b]Zero to Hero Disposition[/b] harkens back to 1st Edition, where PCs and NPCs roll a number of Hit Dice equal to their level, with no modifiers for good/poor rest. This gives higher-level characters a lot more staying power. [b]Troupe Style Play[/b] solves the dilemma of an incapaticated PC needing to rest for weeks while the nightmare incursions grow worse. Players create a pool of characters, any combination of whom can be shared as a whole or a certain amount per player. Every time the group takes a new expedition into a dungeon, one PC per player is chosen to form an adventuring party while the rest of the party stays in civilization and performs downtime actions. [b]Mission-Based Experience[/b] dispenses with leveling up from treasure in favor of a more personalized array of accomplishments. A PC levels up by completing 3 missions, and guidelines are provided for a number of complicating factors known as Elements. The higher Level a PC is, the more Elements are included in a mission. [b]Playing Blackjack[/b] dispenses with the use of ability score modifiers for “roll under” actions such as saving throws. A character rolls 1d20 and adds their attribute score. If a character gets 21 or higher they succeed, and 20 or lower fails. In the event that the GM has players who prefer using this means of rolling and others who do not, players must declare “blackjack” before rolling to clear up any confusion. [b]Additional Professions[/b] provides four more classes. The reason that they’re optional is that they imply various aspects about the setting that may not gel with what the GM has in mind, such as explicit nonhuman races. [b][i]Berserkers[/i][/b] are basically D&D Barbarians. They have an impressive d10 Hit Die, cannot use special abilities while wearing heavy armor, and must spend half their accumulated wealth on earthly pleasures; if they do not they suffer disadvantage on all rolls until they defeat a “worthy foe” (level or greater). They have Skills pertinent to wilderness survival, equipment maintenance, and knowing customs of martial cultures. For special abilities they add their level to attack rolls, treat their Armour Rating equal to their Ferocity score if they have a weapon in hand, and can attack a number of foes equal to their level within weapon range every round. They can make attacks and move as part of this, but can’t attack the same foe twice or reload between attacks. Overall Berserkers are rather simple in play, and unlike D&D Barbarians they are less about raw damage and more being able to take out large numbers of opponents easily. [b][i]Disciples[/i][/b] are D&D monks. They practice a personal philosophy and gain powers from its ideals. Their Skills are left to the player and GM depending upon their philosophy and lifestyles. They cannot use their special abilities when Encumbered or wearing plate, and must give half the wealth they make to others or in service of their ideals. Their Ideals are chosen from one of four virtues and are a mixture of blatant rules (give all of your money away, cannot sneak up on enemies) to role-playing restrictions (must confront the enemies of civilization wherever you find them, must defend the weak from harm, etc). For basic abilities they have 1d6 Hit Die, add their level to attacks, have an Armour Rating equal to 10 + their level when unarmoured, roll against their Willpower save in lieu of other attributes for phenomena related to mental and physical endurance, and have a number of Special Disciplines equal to 1 + their level + their Willpower modifier. Special Disciplines are mostly at-will or always-on abilities representing the Disciple’s training, and while they may appear magical are in fact mundane in origin. They include things such as being able to hold their breath for a number of Turns equal to their level, advantage on saves vs damaging (and non-damaging for a separate Discipline) spells, able to harm and touch incorporeal creatures and those immune to non-magical damage, can throw enemies or objects a number of feet equal to 5 x their level, able to walk on water, walls, and fragile places normally unable to hold a human’s weight, and gaining a number of additional attacks equal to their Willpower modifier. Disciples are heavily geared towards being mobile fighters, and most of their powers are a mixture of utility vs. offense. The only one that can be potentially overpowered would be the one that grants bonus attacks per round equal to Willpower, but the rest are broadly situational. [b][i]Fey Knights[/i][/b] take heavy inspiration from the time when being an Elf was a race and a class, specifically a fighter-mage hybrid. However, the class can represent all manner of feylike magical beings who aren’t like other people. They have 1d6 Hit Dice and earn half Experience, meaning it takes twice as long to level up. They are Skilled in magical knowledge, etiquette, the arts, faerie culture, and equipment maintenance. For special abilities they add their level to attacks, can choose to keep a cast spell memorized (aka not spend a spell slot) by suffering 1d4 Intelligence damage, begin play knowing and is capable of learning spells, and has d6 Psychic Armour. Furthermore, each Fey Knight can choose from one or more Supernatural Heritages, which reflect the type of fey they are and/or their Court. Each comes with one beneficial trait and one hindrance. For example, Dark Elves have advantage on sneaky stuff but their Resentment always starts at 1 in new settlements, while Fall Court fey have advantage on controlling Divination and Illusion spells but disadvantage on controlling Evocation, Healing, and Summoning Spells. Golden Age fey is perhaps the most attractive to mage-heavy types, granting mastery over 1 bonus spell per level but takes double damage from weapons made of iron. Ouch! The Fey Knight is a neat concept, but doesn't feel truly unique given that they’re a blend of existing class features for the most part besides Supernatural Heritage. Their d6 Hit Dice makes them more fragile and pack less of a punch than Assassins, Fighters, and Champions in physical combat, and their halved Experience really hurts. WIth the Chaos Champion already existing and Professions like Assassin getting a magical option subclass, they won’t make for an appealing class in converting to 2nd Edition. [b][i]Halflings[/i][/b] represent all manner of small folk that seem all the rage in fantasy settings. They have 1d6 Hit Die, get no damage bonus from two-handed weapons, cannot hide or be stealthy when Encumbered or in plate armour, and have less Encumbrance allowance due to their size. They are Skilled in maintaining equipment and households as well as athletic, sneaking, and wilderness survival stuff. When it comes to Special Abilities they can find hidden things like a Thief can, have advantage on saves when their size works in their favor, have one group of weapons as Favored which lets them add their level to attack rolls with said weapons, and have a Luck Score equal to their level that refreshes after a long rest. Luck may be spent to reroll a roll of their own or ignore a die result of damage from any source of harm. To further customize their ‘race,’ Halflings can choose from Morphological Features which are akin to a Fey Knight’s Supernatural Heritage. For a few examples, Gnomes have mastery over 1 Illusion spell per level but have disadvantage when rolling Disposition, and Goblinoids deal 1d8 damage when wielding favored weapons but suffer disadvantage on rolls when influencing people in settlements. Morlock may be a blatantly good option as they can see in the dark (great for dungeon delves!) but suffer disadvantage to all rolls in direct sunlight. Notice that it specifies direct sunlight and not bright light in general. Halflings come off as specialized Thieves but with less Skills. Their Luck is pretty good in that it grants them limited metacurrency that can turn around a bad situation. [b]Random Tables[/b] are well...random tables of all sorts. They include reasons why monsters may be a threat to civilization, physical and personality traits to flesh out NPCs and monsters, tables for a wide variety of items and treasure types, jewelry designs, and the subject of scholarly texts, journals, and other written documents. [b]Money[/b] provides more detail for tracking encumbrance for coins. Generally speaking, keeping coins in pockets and small containers is more encumbering than keeping them in larger sacks and backpacks. Meticulously packed coins and bars count as being even less encumbering than either option. Coins with a hollow center and tied together via a string count half as much for encumbering purposes, and gold coins and bars are ten times more valuable than silver counterparts. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] I have mixed feelings on a lot of these rules, although given their optional nature it may be due more to personal tastes. I do like Troupe Style Play and Equipment Breakage which feels in keeping with the ruleset. The new Professions didn’t leave any strong feelings in me, although I liked the Disciple the most in terms of having many versatile options. Alternate dice resolution material such as Playing Blackjack and 2d6 Contests feel a bit unnecessary, as the ruleset as it is is not that confusing to me. Zero to Hero Disposition can be a good alternative for more “heroic level” style adventures, but given that PCs already have a buffer of “Wounds” may not gel well with the default setting. Mission-Based Experience can be good for groups that want to “level up by plot,” but given that its Elements system introduces a new amount of book-keeping it doesn’t seem a worthy alternative for higher-level play. The loot-based advancement of the base systemworks rather well in my opinion, and there’s plenty of things for PCs to buy with their money. And that is it for the Nightmares Underneath proper! But there is one more thing to review that was included with the 1st Edition PDF. A conversion manual for those who are less fond of the OSR and prefer a system more...Worldly. [b]Join us next time as we cover A World Full of Nightmares, a Powered by the Apocalypse conversion of the Nightmares Underneath![/b] [/QUOTE]
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