Microlite20 : the smallest thing in gaming

[bytor4232]

I would. Since the core m20 rules only use EL's for XP gain!

Of course, theres nothing stopping you from totaling it up yourself Seriously, that would take me like an hour to do with a spreadsheet. If I do it, the task will no be one I'll run home and joyously take care of.

like I said, I'll consider it. Fonkin the Gnome is a lost cause, I deleted the source HTML that generated that dungeon. I still have the source for The Tomb of Mighty Madness thou.

 

[MeepoDM]

Just sayin' EL's are pretty important to M20, after all. Math, smath - estimation is everyones friend!

 

[Darrell]

Can I ask then how you and Darrel are dealing with the special rules of weapons?

Speaking for myself, by ignoring them for the most part. For my game, all information concerning the weapon is listed in the m20 Equipment List. There may be a magical +1 (to hit & damage) axe, or a flaming longsword that does longsword damage plus an extra 1dwhatever fire damage, but that's about it with regard to 'special rules.'

Some specifics:
exotic weapons namely war axe and bastard sword.

In the m20 Equipment List, the dwarven waraxe and the bastard sword are one-handed weapons that deal 1d10 damage.

some weapons give bonuses to trip etc.

No bonuses to trip were included in the m20 Euipment List. Complex bonuses were one of the first things I jettisoned. The only factors necessary to run any weapons in the m20 Equipment list are size, price, damage, and (in the case of ranged weapons) range. These are all included in the list, and match the d20 SRD for compatibility.

mighty bows.

Mighty bows are not included in the m20 Equipment List, as they were not in the d20 SRD Equipment Lists. In fact, as I've never even had one used in a D&D campaign, I'm not even completely sure what a 'mighty' bow might be. Whatever its bonus may be, I'd be inclined to ignore it.

There is a lot of minutia there. I think a lot of that could get washed away with the simplified weapon chart.

I think a lot of it has been washed away already. My own goal in gaming, in fact, is to 'wash over' any and all combat as rapidly as possible. Combat in m20 goes fast enough to get it over with in short order, but slow enough that the players feel they've actually accomplished something.

No need to write a specific line into the rules about the rapier exception. It is a light weapon period.

I quite agree. I generally ignore that line in the m20 rules (and may, in fact, have stricken it from my house rules...I don't have a copy to hand to check).

For what it's worth, I really like your weapon simplification. I just think it diverges too far from the d20 SRD to meet the goals we were setting with m20. If we were to try to create a game which wasn't as concerned with maintaining the level of core d20-compatible playablity, I'd rather go by your chart.

Regards,
Darrell

 

[bytor4232]

For what it's worth, I really like your weapon simplification. I just think it diverges too far from the d20 SRD to meet the goals we were setting with m20. If we were to try to create a game which wasn't as concerned with maintaining the level of core d20-compatible playablity, I'd rather go by your chart.

I completely and utterly agree. I think its a terrific idea, but it crosses the line set with Microlite20.

 

[MeepoDM]

Ditto's.

 

[bytor4232]

If you guys want to watch a play by post game I'm running with Microlite20, check it out here:

http://www.dndonlinegames.com/showthread.php?t=49957

Its a publicly viewable game, so anyone can watch it. I'm about to run my first combat.

 

[MeepoDM]

Since we kind of found our way around to EL's, I was wondering about this:

Encounter Level = Hit Dice of defeated monsters, +2 for each doubling of the number of foes.

Does this mean a room with 4 Kobolds in it has an EL 5? This is more than an Ogre, but I can tell you who I'd rather meet in a dark room.

 

[greywulf]

This is me, mid game. The adventure is going swimmingly and my players have come up with some great ideas. I'll cover them another time though. Oh, and they SERIOUSLY hate kobolds

The new class mods have gone down well, but we're still not satisfied with the Cleric's Turn Undead ability. Can't decide between it being a spell (or spell-like thingummy) or a special ability usable a certain number of times per day. Or something else.

I'm putting that to the vote.

On the equipment thing, I'm going to put simplified weapon damages into the Microlite20 UA; You've persuaded me that sticking with d20 standard damage levels is a better thing to have in Core. It also keeps those monsters-with-weapons from existing adventures and Monster Manuals on the same playing field.

As regards the question of why someone would use a scimitar instead of the (far superior) Longsword, the answer is simple: IT FITS THE CHARACTER CONCEPT. Nothing, nada, not a thing else matters. Heck if my character wanted to kill people with a spoon, I'd do it if it fitted the concept. Screw rules optimisation; in Microlite20, there aren't enough rules to optimise. That's kinda the whole idea.

Oh, and Mark's got a name for the House Rules supplement: The Microlite20 Macropedia! Yay!

More later. On to the second half of the game..........

 

[Darrell]

Since we kind of found our way around to EL's, I was wondering about this:

Encounter Level = Hit Dice of defeated monsters, +2 for each doubling of the number of foes.

Does this mean a room with 4 Kobolds in it has an EL 5? This is more than an Ogre, but I can tell you who I'd rather meet in a dark room.

I've kinda been thinking about that, too. It hasn't been a pressing issue, because I'm the only one who keeps track of 'experience' for my group, so if they have a cake-walk, they don't advance as fast as they do if they fight tougher opponents. Indeed, I tend to think along the lines of the poster earlier (was it Sadrik, maybe?) who mentioned level advancement by game session (maybe something like 2-3 sessions per level).

Heh. Just to be random, you could roll for it...say 1d4+1 game sessions per level.

Regards, Darrell

 

[Sadrik]

Fair enough.

I am not married to the idea of the simple weapon chart. But I would like to point out that the argument- it (or any other idea) diverges too far from the SRD is just well... kind of funny with spells damaging the caster, three stats, hp being str + 1d6/level, 0 level spells having the same DC to resist as 9th level spells. All of which are by far more damaging to the SRD rules-wise than simplifying the weapons. All being said and done I approve of all of the changes. Please though.

I dont mean to come off as rules picky. I am just a rules guy who loves to come up with rules. Especially if they consolidate or make play easier. Eliminating special rules/cases is the name of the game. M20 does that in a major way and Ill totally carry the torch for it.

Now as for other rules I think could be better:
Monsters are a total mess.
They need to have their stats written out. (Edit: in case for an opposed check)
They need to use the same HP formula characters do.
And HP in general should not be 1d6/ level. Something like:

Monster hit points are determined by multiplying the HD by 2 (delicate), 3 (average), 4 (tough), 5 (no anatomy) then add the creatures STR score.

EL should be: EL = highest HD, +1 per doubling of the number of foes.

The way it was before you could have 2 goblins being EL 3! After my change from +2 to +1 per double, two goblins will be EL 2, four would be EL 3 and eight would be EL 4.