Since G+ is so ephemeral I thought I'd save a couple items here. First up, an idea of mine that a few folks seemed to like:
Today's stupid XP/class idea for old school D&D: Rearrange the XP bonus for stats so that a LOW stat gets you a bonus.
If you have a low Int, you get an XP bonus for playing a fighter.
If you have a low Str, you get an XP bonus for playing an MU.
If you have a low Dex, you get an XP bonus for playing a cleric.
If you have a low Wis, you get the bonus for playing a Thief.
You could use Cha for dwarves (all dwarves tend to act like Grumpy of Snow White fame) and Con for elves (elves have always struct me as slightly consumptive).
And here's a question I asked and the respones:
"If you dig Frank Frazetta then you should check out the work of ________"
Jeffrey Jones
The Brothers Hildebrandt
Boris Vallejo
Who else?
Answers: brom, Don Maitz, Julie Bell, Simon Bisley, Alex Ross, Mike Hoffman, M.W. Kaluta, William Stout, Roy Krenkel, Mark Schultz, Gary Gianni, Joe Jusko, kent williams, Sam Keith, Barry Windsor-smith, Cary Nord, Robert E. Howard :), Ken Kelly, Glenn Orbik, George Barr, virgil finlay?, Michael Whelan, Chris Achilleos, Don Lawrence, Frank Schoonover, Alex Raymond, Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Richard Corben, J. Allen St. John, Bob Guccione :-)
I love the idea of xp bonus for low ability score.
ReplyDeleteLow-dex clerics? Good old "Stinker" Pinker from Wodehouse!
ReplyDeleteMore generally than xp, I'm curious for ideas about character stats that have advantages in either direction. My inspiration is personality characteristics which can be to far in either direction. E.g. too much Agreeableness and you're gullible, too little and you're paranoid. I've only been able to come up with one good one for RPGs so far: most people equate Call of Cthulu's Sanity with D&D's wisdom, and that makes sense, but I'd rather it be equal to 21 - Intelligence instead. The brainier you are, the more susceptible to insanity you are.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, you're still blogging, Jeff? Haven't you heard G+ made such a thing obsolete?
ReplyDeleteNo love for Berni Wrightson in the Frazzetta question?
ReplyDeleteNo love for Halflings, Jeff?
ReplyDeleteGood catch, Erin! I love halflings but I couldn't fit seven classes into this six stat schema. Besides,anyone playing a halfling in BX is already a hardcore mofo who doesn't need any help from the DMs lousy houserules.
ReplyDeleteNo Rodney Matthews? :-(
ReplyDeleteI missed the Frazetta thread on G+, very glad you saved it here!
ReplyDeleteYeah, rewarding people for high class-related attributes seems like double dipping. Because you're good at this, have some more good at this! And if you suck, have some more suck! It's the Iron Law of Distribution: "Them That Has, Gets."
ReplyDeleteExperience awards acknowledging overcoming of difficulty makes way more sense.
Alfredo Alcala!
ReplyDeleteAlex J: Pokethulhu has an inverse-sanity rule based on Grade Level (echoing the basic Lovecraftian theme that, the more you know, the more f**ked you are).
ReplyDeleteBack in my TFFV days I wrote some skills for the game that were based on inverse scores rather than direct scores (there was one for appreciating team sports, for example, which worked on the opposite of how smart you are).
That collection of "if you like Franzetta" artists is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see something like that for Tramp, especially Wormy. I think the mix of cartoony and dark, dense, almost claustrophobic detail, much like his underground comix predecessors, was phenomenal. Given my druthers, there'd be a lot more fantasy art in this style. The only person I can think of who does anything like that is Stefan Poag's best work.