Project Jasper: Ayla Buckburr and Jasper

Artwork ©2016 Kraken-Steelklaw

For my first entry in Project Jasper, I thought I'd go with one of my favorite fantasy games, Beyond the Wall. I present to you, Ayla Buckburr and Jasper!

For generations the Buckburr family was renowned for breeding dogs long sought by hunters across the kingdom. Like her father, her brothers, and all her cousins, Ayla, the sole daughter of her father's family, was a budding kennelmaster. Were it not for a chance meeting with Jasper during their shared youth, she most likely would never have seen the lands beyond her home village.

During her 20th summer, Ayla was wandering the woods when she came across a big-pawed, floppy-eared pup of a dog drinking from the stream. Mutually surprised, the two eyed each other suspiciously for a moment before Ayla took the first step.

Calling to the dog, she knelt down and offered a piece of beef jerky to him. Jasper, as Ayla came to call her new friend, wolfed the offering down and licked Ayla's face in appreciation. Ayla quickly offered up her entire lunch, which Jasper made short work of. The two sat by the stream for some time and formed the foundations of a bond through which Jasper told his story as best he could. Sensing her new friend's feelings of loss, Ayla invited Jasper to live with her and the rest of the Buckburr clan.

As Jasper waited outside, Ayla began to work her charms on her parents and older brothers. Bringing the pup into the house, she quickly introduced him to her family. Bartleby, her father, was reluctant to simply adopt Jasper, citing the fact that they already had a breeding pair and their large litter to feed. Ayla won them over however, and spent the rest of the summer tending to her chores and playing with Jasper in her free time. Despite his misgivings, Bartleby quickly came to see that Jasper was something special, for he was brighter than his new kennelmates. Ayla's bond with Jasper grew over the next two seasons. Sadly, that did not last long as Ayla's father sold Jasper to a hunter who turned out to be cruel and abusive. Before long, Jasper escaped and made his way back home, much to Ayla's delight, her father's surprise, and the hunter's anger.

Ayla's father sent Jasper back with his would-be master, but the pup soon found his way back again. This time, however, Ayla hid him away. The hunter, incensed at the dog's defiance, returned to the Buckburr farm with eyes afire. Bartleby tried to convince his daughter to give Jasper back, but she refused to give him up. Frustrated with his daughter's refusal to do what he thought was the right thing, Bartleby gave the hunter his money back. Sadly, it wasn't enough. The hunter, still demanding he receive a dog, took the family's prize dam as he left.

Fearing his business ruined, Bartleby was furious. In a fit of rage, he threw Ayla out of the house and banished her from the family farm. Now homeless, Ayla and Jasper made their way to human lands. Along the way, Jasper taught Ayla what he knew of survival in the wilderness and protected her from wild animals.

The two soon found themselves in a large human village at the edge of the woods. Being the only halfling in town made life hard for Ayla, but Jasper provided her with companionship and protection. At first the pair tried to raise money for food by doing acrobatic and riding tricks in the town square. Sadly, what little they raised was barely enough to feed the two once a day. However, their act had caught the eye of the captain of the guard, who suggested they join the militia.

When the captain of the guard introduced Ayla and Jasper as the newest recruits, the other militia members practically fell out of formation in laughter. Undeterred, Ayla refused to be laughed out of room and board. For the first month, she and Jasper seemed to be nothing more than mascots for the militia. "Small but mighty" they fancied themselves. Ayla, however, was out to prove herself, and Jasper was equally determined.

Ayla fixed up a makeshift saddle and tack for Jasper. At first he didn't care for it, but he soon got the hang of having a rider. The two quickly became able to read each other's body language and improved their synergy as rider and steed. The young halfling also took up archery and found she was most proficient with the bow. Being a halfling, a human-sized shortbow worked well as a halfling-sized longbow. Before long, the two began putting on "performances" for the militiamen, demonstrating Ayla's skill as a mounted archer and Jasper's agility as her steed.

As autumn set in, Jasper and Ayla's bond grew more powerful and soon Jasper was able to communicate with Ayla as well as any other person. On the last full moon of the harvest, Jasper demonstrated another unusual talent of his faerie upbringing. The night of All Saints' Eve, the ghost of a long-forgotten murder victim haunted the village square. Fearing the ghost was an ill omen, the townsfolk began locking their doors and staying in when it was normally a festive time of year. Unafraid of the ghost, Jasper, who had a keen sense for the presence of spirits, aided Ayla in leading the ghost to its final rest in the village graveyard.

During the winter, when goblins began attacking nearby farms in search of food, Ayla and Jasper volunteered to act as scouts. The two quickly learned the best ways to track and avoid the foul creatures and led a band of militia soldiers right to their cave. In the end, the goblins were driven from the region and the pair were hailed as heroes, being made true members of the local militia.

Ayla Buckburr, Halfling Outrider
Class: Warrior-Rogue       Level: 1       Title: Observer      Alignment: Lawful
DEX: 15 (+1)      STR: 10 (+0)        CON: 12 (+0)        INT: 12 (+0)        WIS: 10 (+0)        CHA: 8 (-1)
Hit Dice: d10
Hit Points: 10
Armor Class: 13 (leather armor); 14 (leather armor + wooden shield)
Initiative Bonus: +2           Initiative (DEX bonus + Initiative Bonus + Level): 4
Base Attack Bonus: +1      Total Attack Bonus: +3 (Weapon Specialization + DEX Bonus + BAB)

Skills: Animal Lore, Direction Sense, Stealth
Knack: Weapon Specialization (Bow): +1 to hit, +2 to damage
Special Abilities
     - Fortune's Favor (p.11, BtW)
     - Halfling Spirit (p. 31, BtW) 
     - Small Stature (p.31, BtW) 

Saving Throws
Poison 14 
Breath Weapon 17 
Polymorph 15 
Spell 17 
Magic Item 16

Fortune Points: 5

Equipment: A dagger, a very fine saddle, bags filled with food and rations, leather armor (+2 AC), a wooden shield (+1 AC), bow, quiver with 12 arrows, and 12 silvers


Jasper, Loyal Outrider Cohort
Class: Warrior-Rogue       Level: 1       Title: Observer Cohort      Alignment: Lawful
DEX: 9 (+0)      STR: 16 (+2)        CON: 17 (+2)        INT: 12 (+0)        WIS: 13 (+1)        CHA: 7 (-1)
Hit Dice: d10
Hit Points: 10
Armor Class: 13 (leather armor); 14 (leather armor + wooden shield)
Initiative Bonus: +2           Initiative (DEX bonus + Knack + Initiative Bonus + Level): 4
Base Attack Bonus: +1      Total Attack Bonus: +2

Skills: Animal Ken, Survival
Knack: Fleet (+1 Initiative)
Special Abilities
     - Fortune's Favor (p.11, BtW)
     - I'm A Dog: Dogs have a base AC of 12, receive a +1 bonus to bite (1d4 damage), and have no hands.

Saving Throws
Poison 14 
Breath Weapon 17 
Polymorph 15 
Spell 17 
Magic Item 16

Fortune Points: 5

Equipment: Specially made leather barding/armor (AC+2) 

Design Notes: While Beyond the Wall does have the Village Bear playbook, it doesn't really have anything with regard to playing other intelligent animals in the vein of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia or even anthropomorphic animals along the lines of Brian Jacques' Redwall series. This is something I intend to write on at a later date, but with this particular project in mind, I went through the Village Bear playbook and basically modified it for a dog by substituting the dog stats from the rulebook bestiary for the bear stats given in the playbook.

Oddly, the Village Bear playbook initially gives the character the Warrior-Rogue class, but later talks about the character's class being Village Bear. In light of the synergy I wanted to establish between Ayla and Jasper, I stuck with the Warrior-Rogue class. At the same time, I thought it better to give Jasper the Animal Ken skill, which I better defined for my games here. In short, Animal Ken is the better choice as it gives Jasper the ability to speak with other animals.

In order to get the pair's backgrounds, skills, and abilities to have the right synergy, I built both characters by hand, picking entries from the tables as I saw fit, trying to keep in mind the fact that the only restriction Ayla faces as a halfling is a maximum STR score of 10. The Halfling Outrider playbook can be found in the free Dwarves, Elves and Halflings supplement or Heroes Young and Old. Ayla's title of "Observer" comes from the article "Scouting for More Options" by Kim Eastland, which appeared in Dragon #161. The full table of titles for the scout class (or in this case the halfling outrider) is as follows:

Level - Title
  1 - Observer
  2 - Spotter
  3 - Pointman
  4 - Outrider
  5 - Vanguard
  6 - Forerunner
  7 - Huntsman
  8 - Spy
  9 - Scout
10 - Master Scout

The stats for the Black Boar can be found on page 3 of The Village. If you want stats for Jasper's would-be master, the cruel hunter, use the stats for the Wicked Hunter on page 2 of Beyond the Cave.

The Rules of the House

Okay, bad pun in the title aside, I've found that despite my difficulties with advanced math (including probabilities), I do enjoy doing a little tinkering with the rules of the games I run. Sometimes it's because something doesn't fit the flavor of the game and other times I do it to see what the existing game can do with a little more tweaking. Beyond the Wall (BtW) is one of those rare cases where the Rules As Written are darn near perfect, but there are some bells and whistles on similar games that fit so nicely with it. Here are my proposed tweaks that I plan to use (in addition to my previous musings on skills) when running BtW in the future. (EDIT: I do apologize for the wall of text. When formatting this entry, I tried breaking things up with the covers, but it fouled up the spacing.)

From first edition AD&D, D&D 3.5, and Pathfinder: Interpreting Hit Points

A lot of players and gamemasters misinterpret hit points to indicate the amount of physical wounds and damage a character can take. In the first edition Player's Handbook (p.34), Gary Gygax states:

"Each character has a varying number of hit points, just as monsters do. These hit points represent how much damage (actual or potential) the character can withstand before being killed. A certain amount of these hit points represent the actual physical punishment which can be sustained. The remainder, a significant portion of hit points at higher levels, stands for skill, luck, and/or magical factors. A typical man-at-arms can take about 5 hit points of damage before being killed. Let us suppose a 10th level fighter has 55 hit points, plus a bonus of 30 hit points for his constitution, for a total of 85 hit points. This is the equivalent of about 18 hit dice for creatures, about what it would take to kill four huge warhorses. It is ridiculous to assume that even a fantastic fighter can take that much punishment. The same holds true to a lesser extent for clerics, thieves, and the other classes. Thus, the majority of hit points are symbolic of combat skill, luck (bestowed by supernatural powers), and magical forces."

Beyond the Wall echoes this interpretation:

“Hit points are an abstract measurement of how tough the character is, as well as how good at resisting and avoiding harm in combat. At every level, a character gains a number of hit points by rolling the die type indicated by his class’ hit dice. For instance, a Rogue has a hit die of d8, and so a character with the Rogue class rolls 1d8 and gains that many hit points every level. This number is modified by a character’s Constitution bonus every time it is rolled. Additionally, all PCs gain the maximum number of hit points possible for a roll on their hit dice at first level; the above mentioned rogue would begin at first level with a full 8 hit points plus any extra hit points from his Constitution bonus.”

In the third edition version of Unearthed Arcana, this is taken literally, making the character's “Wound Points” equal to their CON score and their added hit points “Vitality Points”. I will be using this added interpretation to indicate how much the character has yet to “grow into” their role as a hero. Once a character hits their CON score maximum, any hit points gained after that point are just as described – a measure of skill, luck (or divine intervention), and magical forces.

(6/29/16 EDIT: As an addendum, the 3.5 SRD rules on Wound Points are here. The Pathfinder version can be found here.)

From 13th Age: One Unique Thing

This is the prime rule which caught my eye when I heard about Pelgrane's 13th Age RPG – not because it adds to the power of a character, but because it adds depth to their story. Essentially, the purpose of this rule isn't to create new combat powers, skills, or special abilities, but to add a detail to the hero that sets them apart from other characters. This detail should be something that both the player and GM can take advantage of in the course of the game. It should give clues as to how the character interacts with the world and people around them and vice versa. From the standpoint of the gamemaster, it should provide the opportunity for one or more story hooks or the promise of a mystery to be unraveled later in the story. Some interesting discussions regarding this rule can be found here, here, and here on RPGNet.

From The Hero's Journey and Moldvay B/X D&D: Table Roles

James Spahn's The Hero's Journey RPG (THJ) brings back table roles in the form of an optional rule, but in a slightly different format. THJ has the roles of Treasure Keeper and Initiative Tracker, but not Mapper (or Caller, for that matter). The Treasure Keeper notates what treasure is acquired by the party and once a total is inventory is taken, leads the discussion about how it is to be divided - but they are not necessarily the one whose character is packing all the treasure around. The Initiative Tracker rolls group initiative or otherwise has the necessary information (such as each party member's initiative bonuses and the initiative order) assembled for the referee during combat. Of course, to do Old School style right, we have to include the Mapper from the Moldvay edition of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. As for the Caller, that's optional.

More Rules from The Hero's Journey

Non-Combat XP (p.67)

• Player accurately roleplays their character’s race and class: +100 XP
• Player character attempts a potentially life-threatening act of heroism: +250 XP
• Player character performs a surprising/clever deed that helps the party or an ally: +150 XP
• Player encourages other players to get involved, roleplay, and contribute to the game: +100 XP
• Making everyone at the table laugh out loud: +75 XP
• Player takes the role of Treasure Keeper (optional): +50 XP
• Player takes the role of Initiative Tracker (optional): +50 XP
• Player takes the role of Mapper (optional): +50 XP
• Player takes the role of the Caller (optional): +50 XP

Death's Door (p.73)
Having started with Basic D&D (where zero hit points equals death) I'm not a big fan of the "Death's Door" rule, but THJ seems to take the streamlining a bit further than BtW. As such, I'm more apt to use this optional ruling than the simple “10 count” or Pathfinder's rule (negative CON = Death). THJ's rule on death's door balances out the  book-keeping with increased character frailty.

In this case, “...The character is not dead until they reach negative hit points equal to their level (EDIT: Emphasis mine). Thus a first-level character is dead at −1 hit points, while a seventh level character would be able to survive until reaching −7. However, a character with zero or fewer hit points is unconscious and cannot move or act in any fashion until healed.”

The only thing I might add to that is making -10 hp the maximum for level-based toughness, meaning even a mighty warrior king isn't utterly immune to Death's cold grasp.

Heroic Damage and Critical Hits (pgs. 68 and 71)
With "Heroic Damage", the character adds all or part of their level to the damage they deal based on their class. Warriors add their full level, Rogues add 1/2 their level (rounded up), and Mages add 1/3 their level (rounded up). With multi-classed characters, use the class from which the character draws their attack bonus.

Additionally, a character can inflict Heroic Damage by burning a Fortune Point at a dramatically appropriate moment. Finally, whenever a natural 20 is rolled, the maximum damage of the weapon or the character's Heroic Damage are dealt (whichever is higher); a natural 1 is simply a miss.

From Trollsmyth's Blog: Shields

To add a bit more spice to combat, I'm thnking about using the following shield rules from Trollsmyth's blog:

• Shields still provide their regular AC bonus, but if the player so chooses, they can declare that their shield absorbed the damage from the blow and was splintered or sundered. This destroys the shield, but protects the character from damage. In the case of a critical hit, it halves the damage unless a Fortune Point is also burned.
• A shield can also be sacrificed against spells that deal damage, offering the character an automatic save for half damage.
• For every +1 bonus a magic shield gives in addition to its regular AC bonus, the shield has a +10% chance of surviving a blow when sacrificed in combat. As such, a +5 shield would have a 50% chance of surviving a sundering blow.

Further Thoughts On Fortune Points (Further Afield, p.71)

• If a character burns a Fortune Point and the second roll is a failure, they take the higher of the two rolls.
• According to Further Afield, "Fortune Points normally only refresh after a full rest, such as between adventures..." However, I am willing to "allow a character to regain a Fortune Point for a particularly heroic or noble act during the middle of a game." This bonus is not given lightly; it is "for when the characters are truly acting like the good guys."
• A character who is on the verge of collapse (0 hp) can burn a Fortune Point to make one last ditch action against a foe or to otherwise aid a fellow hero before collapsing. This can be done instead of burning the Fortune Point to stabilize at 0 hp, not in conjunction with spending another Fortune Point to stabilize at 0 hp
• Likewise, a spellcaster who does not have the Ultimate Enchantment trait (Heroes Young and Old, p.10) can also burn a Fortune Point to cast one last spell if they have exhausted all their other spells. However, unlike Ultimate Enchantment, this use of a Fortune Point inflicts a number of hit points in damage equal to the spell's level (cantrips inflict only one hit point of damage). With this ruling, there is the chance a character's hit points could drop to negative levels, killing them. This can be done with rituals only if the GM and player agree it is dramatically appropriate.

Pathfinder Official and Third Party Options

Back in late May, I posed a question to the designers of BtW about the traits introduced in Further Afield and continued in Heroes Young and Old:

"I've got a design question for John and Peter - when you designed the traits found in "Further Afield" and "Heroes Young and Old", did you look strictly at the traits as presented in the 3.5 SRD and Pathfinder PRD or did you look at feats as well. The reason I ask this is because Rogue Genius Games has several supplements for young, old, and venerable characters as well as comedic options (like "Please Stop Helping", which allows a character to still gain the aid ally bonus when an ally fails their roll to help) which might be interesting as traits..."

Peter Williams wrote in response:

"To tell you the truth, I don't remember looking at traits or feats in the SRD at all while designing BtW Traits. That doesn't mean that I didn't, just that I don't recall doing so and it certainly wasn't the main source of inspiration.

"The initial goal with Traits was to have a way to model other old school classes while still keeping a simple, three class structure for the game. That's why you'll find a lay-on-hands ability, a ranger-ish favored enemy ability, and so forth. After getting those basics down, I mostly then just had fun coming up with interesting mechanical widgets and fun, in-genre things.

"Having said all of that, I'll try to take a look at the Rogue Genius stuff. That sounds neat."

The official Pathfinder options for traits, story feats, and the like - as well as options produced by Rogue Genius Games under the Four Horsemen and Everyman Gaming imprints - have some interesting possibilities. While I haven't fully explored the ramifications of modifying these rules to work with BtW, I'll link them here for reference for the time being.

(6/29/16 EDIT: Boy, am I a yutz. I forgot to put the links in...)

From the Pathfinder Rules Document:

• Advanced Players Guide - Traits 
• Ultimate Campaign - Background
• Early Life
• Adolescence
• Adulthood
• Background Generator 
• Traits
• Story Feats

Free download from Paizo - Character Traits PDF
Some of the later Adventure Path Players Guides have specific traits listed as well.

From Rogue Genius Games:

• Comedic Character Options
• Young Character Options
• Mature Character Options
• Venerable Character Options
• Ultimate Options: Story Feats
• Childhood Adventures

Of course, all of these are trumped by Rule Zero...

...the best writeup of which I've found on Bruce Gulke's Mythosa site:

"Every feat, race, spell, prestige class, variant rule, etc. is subject to change or removal at the discretion of the DM. Even if a game element is initially permitted, if it is later deemed incompatible with the campaign, it will be modified or removed. Any characters (PC or NPC) that use that element may be required to adjust to the change (in other words, grandfathering is not guaranteed). The DM will attempt to keep this sort of thing to a minimum (if at all), but sometimes this may happen in the process of keeping the rules appropriate to the campaign setting."

Now all that remains is the road test. I'll keep you all apprised as to how that works out.

Another Exercise in Nostalgia

Previously, I posted about recreating AD&D classes in Beyond the Wall through multi-classing. Looking back, there was more to AD&D characters than just the standard character classes. During the lifespan of first edition AD&D, NPC classes proliferated in the pages of Dragon Magazine. In some cases, the creators of the material noted the NPC classes could be used as PC classes (with some tinkering usually left to the Dungeon Master), but most of these were variants of the base classes meant to fill roles held by every day figures the player-characters would encounter or purchase goods or services through.

Most NPC classes were variations of their foundational classes, but there were a few that I thought stood out as being different enough to merit treatment as multi-classed archetypes. Unlike the previous archetypes I wrote about, these may be more focused on one class than the other instead of being balanced between the two.

Bounty Hunter (Dragon Magazine #52)

Unlike assassins, who focus on killing their targets and then escaping, bounty hunters are called upon to do much more. While they mainly focus on capturing wanted criminals (dead or alive), they are sometimes hired to retrieve errant or kidnapped individuals when discretion - not bravado - is called for.

Classes: Warrior/Rogue

Base Attack: As Warrior
Hit Dice: As Warrior
Saving Throws: As Rogue
Armor: As Rogue 

Initiative: As Rogue 

XP: As Warrior 

Special Abilities: Player chooses one special ability from each class.

Mariner (Dragon Magazine #107)

Like the bounty hunter, the mariner is a sub-class of fighter with some roguish elements. Sailing the high seas, they must rely on light armor in order to keep some of their dexterity - after all, I've yet to see a sailor swing between two ships on a rope while clad in full plate mail armor. Because of their dangerous career, mariners must be highly skilled in the event one or more of their crewmates are incapacitated or killed.

Classes: Rogue/Warrior 

Base Attack: As Warrior 

Hit Dice: As Rogue 

Saving Throws: As Warrior 

Armor: As Rogue 

Initiative: As Rogue 

XP: As Warrior 

Special Abilities: Weapon Specialization or Knack, Highly Skilled

Merchant (Dragon Magazine #136)

The merchant was the main inspiration \for this posting. I always thought it stood out from the other NPC classes even though it was a "post- adventuring" class. Here, I've distinguished between regular merchants and antiquarians, who deal with magic items.

Merchant 

Classes: Rogue/Warrior 

Base Attack: As Warrior 

Hit Dice: As Rogue 

Saving Throws: As Rogue 

Armor: As Rogue 

Initiative: As Warrior 

XP: As Rogue 

Special Abilities: Player chooses one from each class.

Merchant, Antiquarian 
Classes: Rogue/Warrior/Mage 
Base Attack: As Mage 

Hit Dice: As Rogue 

Saving Throws: As Rogue 

Armor: As Rogue 

Initiative: As Mage 

XP: As Mage 

Special Abilities: Spellcasting or Sense Magic, plus one from the Warrior or Rogue class.

Savant (Dragon Magazine #140)

The savant was a double-classed character class for AD&D. PCs could either be a cleric/savant or a magic-user/savant and had to jump through a number of hoops in leveling up. My own thoughts are that they were intended to be player-character sages of a sort. As such, the best way to recreate them in BtW is by making them mage/rogues with a higher concentration on being a mage.

Classes: Mage/Rogue

Base Attack: As Mage 

Hit Dice: As Mage 

Saving Throws: As Mage 

Armor: As Mage 

Initiative: As Rogue 

XP: As Mage 

Special Abilities: Spellcasting, Highly Skilled

Smith (Dragon Magazine #70)

The smith was another NPC class which seemed to stand out from all the others as they play such a major role in some stories. In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Elrond has his smiths reforge the broken sword Narsil into Anduril. Similarly, in Stephen Lawhead's "The Warlords of Nin", Quentin forges the holy sword Zhaligkeer under the hermit Inchkeith's tutelage. As such, the mundane smith is a rogue/warrior and the dweomersmith - a smith specializing in magical arms and armor - is a rogue/warrior/mage. Both archetypes require the Highly Skilled special ability of the rogue class.

Weaponsmith/Armorer 

Classes: Rogue/Warrior 

Base Attack: As Warrior 

Hit Dice: As Warrior 

Saving Throws: As Rogue 

Armor: As Warrior 

Initiative: As Rogue 

XP: As Rogue 

Special Abilities: Weapon Specialization, Highly Skilled

Dweomersmith 

Classes: Rogue/Warrior/Mage 

Base Attack: As Warrior 

Hit Dice: As Warrior 

Saving Throws: As Rogue 

Armor: As Rogue 

Initiative: As Rogue 

XP: As Mage 

Special Abilities: Spellcasting, Highly Skilled

As with the previous set of archetypes, this material is a first draft and open to tinkering and rewriting based on constructive feedback.

The Greatest Adventure...

What lies ahead for these and other adventurers? Cover art ©2016 Jon Hodgson, used with permission.

Just a brief update to those of you interested in what I talked about in my previous post concerning Beyond the Wall. The cover above is what is going to be gracing the PDF for my starter book for BtW. Yes, that is indeed a Jon Hodgson cover. Years ago when I started building my first company I bought the one-time use rights for it from Illodeli, a publishing resource company Hodgson was part of. Years passed and Illodeli folded, but I've kept in touch with Jon and he assures me the agreement holds.

I'm sure those of you who keep a close eye on the module numbers are wondering why this is showing as "BW3" when I previously showed the Dragon's End project cover bearing the same module number. The reason this book will be BW3 is because I suddenly realized that Dragon's End is going to take a lot more writing and work than this one. Additionally, the cover design and title for Dragon's End are still not solidified.

So what happens with the revision of the GM screen? It continues at a slow pace thanks to a number of real life issues (work, broken AC, and vehicle woes). I just wanted to get the cover done because it's part of what stimulates me to work on this stuff. For the record, despite the color cover, the interior will be greyscale because the character art I'm choosing for the character sheets will be greyscale. And yes, the title is a riff on the lyrics from "The Greatest Adventure" by Glenn Yarbrough, which is the theme song to Rankin & Bass' animated version of "The Hobbit".

I look forward to posting more updates about these projects, but it's back to the salt mines for me, folks!

EDIT: There were some concerns raised on the BtW Google+ community regarding the provenance of the artwork I'm using and the fact that two other publications use the same art. To be honest, there's no worry about trade dress issues or confusion of products as the covers are significantly different from one another. as shown here:

My cover, again; artwork ©2016 Jon Hodgson, used with permission.

The cover for OpenQuest by D101 Games. Note that the halfling is now a duck as a nod to the system's roots in RuneQuest and Glorantha.

MaquiEdicion's World of Monsters cover.

Here is another licensed use of the artwork I found online.

So, as you can see, given the differences in cover designs, there's absolutely no way to confuse these products.

Also, here is the exact language of the license, courtesy of the Internet Archive:

By purchasing a download from illodeli.com you agree to be bound by our terms and conditions. 

Artwork is sold on the basis of a single use, non-exclusive license.

In plain English this means:
You may use the piece of artwork once in a single publication. The exceptions to this are filler/spot illustrations which may be used as many times as you desire within one publication.

The copyright to the illustration remains with the artist, who is granting permission to the purchaser to use the illustration once.

Other customers of IlloDeli may also buy the same image and use it. That’s the “non-exclusive” part. 

If you wish to use an illustration more than once in a single publicaiton, or in multiple publications then you simply need to buy it again.

The reason we use this kind of license is because we understand that at certain times buying all rights, or exclusivity to bespoke artwork can be a waste of resources. We would rather you were able to put valuable time and money into ordering bespoke art for when it really counts than in every last instance.

The less exclusivity and re-use we offer with each purchase, the cheaper we can make our illustrations. Given that most art is only used once per book (fillers/spots notwithstanding) we’ve taken that as the baseline of our rights and pricing.

As the purchaser you have the right to crop the work to your needs should that be necessary. 

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On The Drawing Board

I'm sure a lot of people are wondering what's going on with my other projects for supporting Beyond the Wall. Currently I've got three projects on the board in varying degrees of development. Those include the revision of the GM screen and reference pack, a sandbox setting for people to enjoy, and the spell cards. Much as I would love to include possible release dates, I don't want to get people's hopes up and have them dashed when real life intrudes. Just know that I'm working on these as time allows.

EDIT: As a belated side note, all artwork is copyright 2016 Shaman's Stock Art, Misfit Studios, Outland Arts, and Inked Adventures.

The GM Screen and Reference Pack

With the release of Further Afield and Heroes Young and Old, there's been a lot of new information that needs to be indexed - namely spells, monsters, NPCs, traits, and skills. The information on the GM screen will not change as it's meant to be used with the rulebook. I haven't fully decided if I'm going to build and include a landscape format for the GM screen. Some of the things you can expect to see in the revision include:

• Updated indices for spells, monsters and NPCs
• A listing of skills and traits (COMPLETED)
• A two-page, form-fillable character sheet (COMPLETED)
• Character and adventure tracking sheets for GMs. (WORK IN PROGRESS)
• Blank NPC and monster cards for gamemasters.

Those who have already purchased the first version of this product should keep an eye open here, RPGNet, The RPG Site, as well as their e-mail and the G+ community for Beyond the Wall for my announcement of the update's completion.

Spell and Ritual Cards

Work on the spell and ritual cards came to a halt when my wife had a health crisis. With that crisis being managed, I'll be completing this project as soon as I can get the GM screen updated. I'm going to get the core book material first and then gradually update the product to include the magic from the other books and material.

Again, anybody who purchases the first version of this product should keep an eye open here, the aforementioned forums, their e-mail, and the G+ community for Beyond the Wall for my announcement of the updates to this product.

My Sandbox: Dragon's End

Another fun project I've been working on has been a sandbox setting in the spirit of the old BECMI D&D gazeteer maps and hexcrawls. The project is currently going under the name "Dragon's End" - the name of one of the towns - and was originally called Thornhollow. Some of you on the G+ community for BtW might recall me posting some cover art for the project. That cover art is only a concept at this point and may change, as may the title.

While there's going to be a good amount of material and background in this product, it's not going to be a full-blown world like Golarion, Greyhawk, or the Forgotten Realms. You can definitely expect to find my take on gnomes in there as well as rules for dark elves, half elves, and other races (possibly including variations on dwarves, gnomes, and halflings). I'll also be including some iconic characters to act as guides to new heroes, notes on how to use this supplement with the scenario and threat packs released by Flatland Games, and sidebars on house rules I enjoy using in the game. It's kind of my love letter to BECMI D&D, Threshold, and B2 - Keep on the Borderlands, in a way. Below is a preview map which was inspired by the old ads for Mayfair's City-State of the Invincible Overlord products. In the future I'll release a couple of previews to keep you apprised of the product's progress.

Welcome to part of my sandbox! Map by Hexographer, icons by lorc, parchment template by Inked Adventures. Photoshop magic by me.

Circles of Heroes and a Quickstart

Other products on the drawing board are pre-generated groups of characters, both designed using the playbooks and the rules in the core rulebook. A few of these will be general adventuring groups but others will be thematic in nature. I'll also be developing a quickstart supplement, complete with pre-generated characters, a solo adventure, and a group adventure. This is another love letter to BECMI D&D with a special focus on the old Mentzer Basic D&D Player's Manual.

Other Ideas

I hope you've enjoyed a peek behind the curtain. What you see here are by no means the sum of what I want to do with and for Beyond the Wall. There are other ideas I have in the wings, but those are for another day, folks.

Lists, lists, and more lists

As I've said before, Beyond the Wall is a great, flexible, RPG that hearkens back to D&D's earlier glory days in the 1980s. One of the things that makes it so flexible is that it isn't bogged down with a massive, concretely defined skill list. At the same time, that list has a bit of... overlap.

In working to update the information in Silent Sage's GM screen and reference set, I compiled a listing of all the skills in the existing material along with a list of the traits found in Further Afield and Heroes Young and Old. I have attempted to maintain the flexibility of the system by not assigning skills to just one attribute. Instead, I took a note from fourth edition Traveller and allowed for some skills to modify different ability scores in different situations.

For example, a character with the Cooking skill would use it with Wisdom when making a batch of Mother Grimgoose's Famous Mutton Stew from memory. Alternately, if they were to concoct their own famous (or infamous) recipe, they would use Intelligence with the skill to (hopefully) make a new delicacy. For those of you who aren't already part of the excellent G+ community for Beyond the Wall, you can download the file here.

With regard to the overlap, it isn't always obvious. The most obvious example I can give is the skills Forgotten Lore, Forbidden Knowledge, Forgotten Secrets, and Forbidden Secrets. You can easily roll these into one or two skills. The easiest would be to roll them into Forgotten Lore - after all, Forbidden Lore is often (and best left) forgotten. Alternately, you can just have Forgotten Lore and Forbidden Knowledge, simply distinguishing between the two. My preference is to have Forgotten Lore cover all four skills.

Before I go on, please keep in mind that I'm not telling the folks at Flatland Games to "clean things up". In fact, I would prefer they just leave it alone and preserve the flexibility for groups who have their own way of handling it. In fact, I'll review my own in-house solution to the problem at the end of this entry. With regard to any products from Silent Sage Publishing, you'll see that the skills will NOT be unified as I do for my own personal games. Again, that's to preserve the game's flexibility and avoid overstepping the bounds of the license offered by Flatland Games.

Back to the subject at hand. Other overlaps are a bit messier. The Animal Lore and Animal Ken skills are a prime example of how definitions get a bit fiddly. Here are the definitions as provided by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

Definition of ken - noun

1a: the range of vision b :  sight, view <'tis double death to drown in ken of shore — Shakespeare>

2: the range of perception, understanding, or knowledge <abstract words that are beyond the ken of young children — Lois M. Rettie>

Definition of lore - noun

1 archaic: something that is taught :  lesson

2: something that is learned: a :  knowledge gained through study or experience b :  traditional knowledge or belief

3: a particular body of knowledge or tradition

On the surface, the overlap seems obvious - everything should be rolled into one or the other. Once you get under the hood and see how each word is defined and used, it's obvious they are really two different things. Animal Lore is concerned with knowledge about animals - healing their illnesses, training, and so forth. Animal Ken, on the other hand, is the ability to speak with the animals.

In a nutshell, here are the other overlaps I found in the list:

Strategy and Tactics - Another deceptively simple issue as both skills involve maneuvering military or political forces, but Strategy focuses on long term goals as opposed to Tactics' focus on short term goals. Strategy could also apply, oddly enough, to Estate Management. To cut down on the confusion, I would roll Strategy and Tactics together under Strategy and define it as a combat-related skill for either long or short term goals in battle.

Deceit and Subterfuge - Looking at the M-W Online Dictionary, this one is too close to call. You could define Deceit as a skill for fooling people and Subterfuge as a skill for tricks and traps used to obtain something or achieve a goal through deception. My vote is for rolling these together into Deceit and then letting the pairing of skill + ability be determined by the usage. For example, INT would be paired Deceit when plotting a ruse while CHA would be paired with Deceit for telling a convincing lie. Additionally, WIS or INT might be paired with this skill to see through another's lie.

Etiquette, Gossip, and Socialize - This is another fiddly definition. Gossip is a form of socialization, but not all socialization is gossip. In this case I would define Gossip as to include the fine art of roguish eavesdropping and information gathering. Socialize would be a bit more sophisticated, relating to hobnobbing with others outside of a character's social class. You could certainly wrap Etiquette in with Socialize, but could also say Etiquette is even more of a refined cultural skill, letting a character know when to use the fish fork and not the soup spoon. My take is to leave Gossip alone and package Etiquette and Socialize together under Socialize.

Boasting and Storytelling - Again, a bit too close in definition. I would go with rolling these together as Storytelling, as a boast isn't always true.

Monster Lore and Mythical Beast Lore - Another fiddly definition. You could easily argue that monsters are known creatures while mythical beasts are considered just that - myths - until proven otherwise. As with the whole Forbidden Knowledge/Forgotten Secrets bit, it's kind of a toss-up as to how people want to handle it. I personally merge the two under Monster Lore.

In the spirit of keeping things simple in my personal games, here's my round-up on handling any overlaps: 

• Animal Ken (CHA, INT, or WIS) - A skill that allows characters to speak the language of animals.
• Animal Lore (INT or WIS) - Knowledge about raising, healing, and training of animals.
• Deceit (CHA, INT, or WIS) - Combines Deceit with Subterfuge.
• Forgotten Lore (WIS) - Combines Forgotten Lore, Forbidden Knowledge, Forgotten Secrets, and Forbidden Secrets.
• Gossip (CHA, INT or WIS) - The fine art of roguish eavesdropping and information gathering.
• Monster Lore (WIS) - Combines Mythical Beast Lore with Monster Lore.
• Socialize (CHA, INT, or WIS) - A skill relating to hobnobbing with others outside of a character's social class or native culture/species. This skill absorbs the Etiquette skill. 
• Storytelling (CHA or WIS) - Combines Boasting with Storytelling. 
• Strategy (INT or WIS) - Combines Strategy and Tactics with regard to long or short term goals in battle.

Again, by writing this blog post, I am NOT in any way asking or telling Flatland Games to tighten things up. How you handle the overlaps and duplications in your game is up to you and for some it's part of the fun of playing an RPG. Always remember rule zero - if it doesn't work for you and your group, change it so it does. After all, the point of playing a role-playing game is fun, isn't it?

An Alternate View of Gnomes

Whilst I'm on a nostalgia kick, here's my take on gnomes, which I wrote up before Heroes Young and Old was released. As before, I can't vouch for "balance" and constructive feedback is welcome...

Artwork © 2016 Wayward Rogue Stockart

Gnomish Vision - Like elves and dwarves, gnomes can see in any level of light except pitch darkness.

Small Stature - Because they are small, gnomes cannot have a STR score higher than 10.

True Name - Like dwarves, every gnome has a true name which he or she keeps secret. A character using this true name against a gnome receives a +5 bonus to all actions taken against the gnome and a +5 bonus to any save against the gnome's magic.

Inherent Magic - Being members of the faerie court, gnomes are naturally skilled with magic. Gnomes who choose to be a mage gain a bonus spell at each level. However, their magic is limited to phantasms and harmless illusions.

Inherent Luck - Gnomes who choose to be rogues or warriors gain one extra Fortune Point.

Gnomes who multiclass as a warrior-mage or rogue-mage must choose either Inherent Magic or Inherent Luck; they do not receive both. Gnomes who multiclass as warrior-rogues still only receive one extra Fortune Point, not two.

An Exercise in Nostalgia

While Beyond the Wall has quite a bit of flexibility with regard to character creation and multi-classing, I have to confess that I've wanted to model some of the AD&D/D&D classes and sub-classes in terms of multi-classing. Not all of the classes are represented in this writing, however. AD&D classes like the barbarian and druid are easily covered with the warrior and mage classes, respectively. Classes from Oriental Adventures like the kensai, sohei, shukenja, and wu-jen (and even the OA versions of the barbarian and monk) may take some additional fine tuning with regard to cultural differences.

The archetypes below are modeled more on the first edition AD&D and BECMI D&D classes than their counterparts in Pathfinder and newer editions of D&D. Despite the fact that the old BECMI D&D and first edition AD&D classes had alignment and race restrictions (rangers being non-evil, bards being humans or half-elves, etc.), I have not included those restrictions here. Overall, I've tried to follow both the spirit and word of the BtW multi-classing rules; hit dice, saving throws, armor, special abilities and the like were prioritized in the order the classes are presented in the combinations.

In most of the archetypes there's some flexibility with regard to special abilities. A character's special abilities will either be split between the two base classes or centered in one class. You'll also note that two of the archetypes – namely the monk archetype and the warden sub-archetype for rangers – are actually triple-classed archetypes. Again, I've tried to hold to both the spirit and word of the multi-classing rules.

As this a first draft (and an exercise in nostalgia, to boot), I cannot vouch for “balance” in any of these archetypes. Oftentimes, I've found that one person's concept of balance is another person's idea of munchkinization. Feedback is welcome on these archetypes and tinkering will surely ensue. 

Assassin

Classes: Rogue/Warrior 
Base Attack: As warrior 
Hit Dice: As rogue 
Saving Throws: As warrior 
Armor: As rogue 
Initiative: As rogue 
XP: As warrior 
Special Abilities: Player chooses one special ability from each class or both abilities from one class.

Bard 
Classes: Rogue/Mage

Base Attack: As mage
Hit Dice: As mage
Saving Throws: As rogue
Armor: As rogue
Initiative: As rogue
XP: As mage
Special Abilities: Spellcasting, Highly Skilled. 

Cleric
Classes: Mage/Warrior
Base Attack: As warrior
Hit Dice: As mage
Saving Throws: As mage
Armor: As warrior
Initiative: As warrior
XP: As mage
Special Abilities: Spellcasting, Sense Magic. 

Notes: Clerics are a subjective situation. Some play them as priestly healers, others more as combat-oriented crusaders. In this case, I've opted to portray them as crusaders, firmly double-classing the cleric as a mage/warrior. Priests, the cloistered cousins of clerics, are better defined as mages. In earlier editions of D&D and AD&D, clerics were only able to use blunt weapons. This restriction may apply at the discretion of the player and the GM based on the setting and the character's religion. 

Monk
Classes: Mage/Warrior/Rogue
Base Attack: As warrior
Hit Dice: As mage
Saving Throws: As warrior
Armor: As mage
Initiative: As rogue
XP: As mage
Special Abilities: For a combat-oriented monk, the player chooses one special ability from the warrior class and the other from the rogue class or both abilities from one class. For a more mystic archetype, the character receives the mage's Sense Magic ability and the remaining special ability is chosen from either the warrior or the rogue class. 

Notes: I've included monks in this post to cover all the bases; normally, I don't include monks in my games unless they're of the Oriental Adventures variety. At any rate, the monk is a tricky balancing act. Mind you, this is my own concept of the monk. It may not fit everybody's ideal, and I'm certainly open to changing it if absolutely necessary. 

Paladin
Classes: Warrior/Mage
Base Attack: As warrior
Hit Dice: As warrior
Saving Throws: As warrior
Armor: As warrior
Initiative: As warrior
XP: As mage

Special Abilities: Player chooses one special ability from each class or both from one class. 

Notes: Like clerics, paladins are another one of those subjective archetypes. Traditionally, they've been divinely-empowered warriors in AD&D, but in holding true to the spirit of BtW, the player has a decision to make with regard to how their character's abilities are defined. The tenets of the character's religion may also have something to do with how their abilities are defined. For example, a paladin devoted to a saint or deity opposed to spellcasting may be granted the ability to sense magic, but barred from casting spells. As such, the character's second ability would have to be drawn from the warrior class. 

Rangers

The ranger is one of those classes that is split between the image of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, and the image of the spell-casting warrior-sage in D&D. As such, I've endeavored to define each type, just as some third party companies have done with “spell-less” rangers for Pathfinder and D&D. 

Ranger, Scout 

Classes: Rogue/Warrior 

Base Attack: As rogue 

Hit Dice: As rogue 

Saving Throws: As warrior 

Armor: As rogue 

Initiative: As rogue 

XP: As warrior

Special Abilities: Player chooses one special ability from each class or chooses both from one class. 

Ranger, Green Warden 
Classes: Rogue/Warrior/Mage 

Base Attack: As warrior 

Hit Dice: As rogue 

Saving Throws: As warrior 

Armor: As rogue 

Initiative: As rogue 

XP: As mage 

Special Abilities and Restrictions: Spellcasting and one other special ability from either the warrior or rogue class.