Quote from: Bren;839106:cool: Now that's an idea I will steal. Thanks!

I wonder if the first time they hear "help... I'm so hungry" whispered from the dark ifnthe characters nwill head towards the sound.

Quote from: Bren;839106Or just tell them to roll and tell you what they got so you can tell them what it means.

It's total superstition but I find I like to know how I'd want the dice to land when I roll them... other people have mentioned the same... even though knowing makes no difference. I guess not knowing is just one veil too many, for me.

Quote from: NathanIW;839109I wonder if the first time they hear "help... I'm so hungry" whispered from the dark ifnthe characters nwill head towards the sound.

As a GM, one can only hope...

The Hungry Scarecrows
Zombies-like living scarecrows with needle sharp teeth and an insatiable hunger for flesh who can only be permanently destroyed with fire and whisper pleas to be fed from the dark as they close.

At first they are only seen at night and at dawn and twilight, but over time and with food they grow stronger and will hunt during cloudy days, mist, fog, or rain. In large numbers they will even attack in full daylight.

If they have an opportunity to observe individual humans their pleas mimic the voices of friends, loved ones, and neighbors. This will especially occur to anyone who heeds their pleas or tries to help them.

Location: rural areas, the countryside, farms, fields, and especially near crossroads.

Source: a curse placed on a village or area most especially the dying curse of a burned witch, a magical army of an otherworld invasion, sorcerous construct(s) gone wrong.

Vulnerability: fire, lightning, electricity, some magic.

Original idea from here.

Quote from: Simlasa;839111It's total superstition but I find I like to know how I'd want the dice to land when I roll them... other people have mentioned the same... even though knowing makes no difference. I guess not knowing is just one veil too many, for me.

Yeah. I don't really do that. Though I used to be tempted when playing Runequest with people whose dice rolling made me, shall we say, suspicious.

Quote from: NathanIW;839077One good thing that has already come of this is that I've sat down with Microlite20, Swords & Wizadry and Philotomy's collected blog post and cobbled together a D&D with an eye towards what works well if everything is behind the screen and I think I've come up with something I'd like to play or run no matter if the system is hidden or on the table.

You might want to take a look at my Microlite74 -- it is Microlite20 mixed with OD&D/S&W. The basic edition has the 0e boxed set classes/spells (Fighting-Man/Cleric/Magic-User). The standard edition has all the classes and spells from the boxed set and the supplements/zine articles. The extended edition is standard plus most of the house rules I used in the 70s. I'd recommend the basic or standard edition for what you are trying to do.

I came here to say this:

Quote from: Spinachcat;838950Perhaps you would want to consider a game like FUDGE where descriptors matter more than numbers.

Also I hope that you (OP) don't have very many players at that table. I have recently gamed with quite large groups (6-8) and would find that tracking all those PCs and NPCs/monsters even with a rules-lite system could be quite a hassle.

Happy experimenting and please come back to tell us how it went!

Quote from: Bren;839114The Hungry Scarecrows

Nice write up.  I pasted it into my campaign document.

QuoteSource: a curse placed on a village or area most especially the dying curse of a burned witch, a magical army of an otherworld invasion, sorcerous construct(s) gone wrong.

A dark fey curse.  Corby shamans would also find the idea of scarecrows turning on humans appealing.

In the underworld dungeon in my game there's an incongruous area where there are harvest elements that start to show up.  Piles of dried leaves in the corners.  Stones and statues changing to autumnal colours the next time you walk past them.  An apple bobbing barrel with fresh water and apples showing up.  And then the scarecrows start showing up.  And if a living being survives and sticks around long enough, the Harvester himself arrives.

Quote from: RandallS;839116You might want to take a look at my Microlite74 -- it is Microlite20 mixed with OD&D/S&W. The basic edition has the 0e boxed set classes/spells (Fighting-Man/Cleric/Magic-User). The standard edition has all the classes and spells from the boxed set and the supplements/zine articles. The extended edition is standard plus most of the house rules I used in the 70s. I'd recommend the basic or standard edition for what you are trying to do.

I will take a closer look at it.  I like the simple universal mechanic of m20 in the form of stat + skill + dice vs target, but maybe I just don't need it.

Quote from: Simlasa;839111It's total superstition but I find I like to know how I'd want the dice to land when I roll them... other people have mentioned the same... even though knowing makes no difference. I guess not knowing is just one veil too many, for me.

One houserule I like to apply to games is to make it so when a player rolls dice, it's always higher or lower is better for that sort of roll.

Quote from: Moracai;839118I came here to say this: Fudge quote

I ran tons and tons of Fudge 10+ years ago and found that the descriptors actually slowed things down compared to just using a number for each rank.  Fudge is cool, but I'm itching for some OD&D type play.

QuoteAlso I hope that you (OP) don't have very many players at that table. I have recently gamed with quite large groups (6-8) and would find that tracking all those PCs and NPCs/monsters even with a rules-lite system could be quite a hassle.

Happy experimenting and please come back to tell us how it went!

Should be four, maybe five players.  Three if someone flakes out last minute.

Quote from: NathanIW;839128I ran tons and tons of Fudge 10+ years ago and found that the descriptors actually slowed things down compared to just using a number for each rank.  Fudge is cool, but I'm itching for some OD&D type play.

I was thinking more on those lines that Bren talked about in his first post. That the players probably should have some kind of idea what their characters are capable of. For that a descriptor type tool could be good to give to the players. You could handle things behind the screen in any way you want. I kind of guessed that I should've been more clear in my writing

Edit - perhaps describing character stats going from 3-5 = Abysmal to 16-18: Amazing. Or something like that.

Quote from: NathanIW;839128Should be four, maybe five players.  Three if someone flakes out last minute.

Alright, that should'nt be a problem then.

Quote from: Moracai;839132I was thinking more on those lines that Bren talked about in his first post. That the players probably should have some kind of idea what their characters are capable of.

That makes sense.  I'm definitely going to encourage them to take notes while we do character creation and make sure we are all on the same page before we start play.  One area I'm breaking with an OD&D approach is that characters will have their attributes based on what they say they are best and worst at.  It shouldn't take too long to work out some idea of how they want their character.

A friend of mine who can't make another gaming session is going to go through the process with me in a few minutes (once his 8 month old falls asleep) and we'll see how well what he thinks and what I right down match up.

Worst case scenario, I use pregens and just have info ready for them.

Quote from: NathanIW;839123Nice write up.  I pasted it into my campaign document.

I'm glad you liked it. Your two lines inspired me and since I had written it down, it only seemed right to share.

QuoteA dark fey curse.  Corby shamans would also find the idea of scarecrows turning on humans appealing.

In the underworld dungeon in my game there's an incongruous area where there are harvest elements that start to show up.  Piles of dried leaves in the corners.  Stones and statues changing to autumnal colours the next time you walk past them.  An apple bobbing barrel with fresh water and apples showing up.  And then the scarecrows start showing up.  And if a living being survives and sticks around long enough, the Harvester himself arrives.

I almost wrote fey curse down as a cause, but I don't know/haven't decided if there are real fey in my campaign. The setting is mostly no, rarely very low supernatural/magical elements and as I was doing the write-up for me, I left that out, though the otherworld invasion I was thinking of was something like Hellboy 2 Golden Army which has fey as the antagonist. Fey would totally fit. I like the weird harvest area idea. It has a nice Ichabod Crane Headless Horseman kind of vibe. Well done sir or madam.

Friend and I talked about a character idea and I had all the stats I needed in three minutes.  I showed him what I wrote and it matched what he was thinking.  He was surprised it turned out to be D&D based.

Quote from: NathanIW;839149Friend and I talked about a character idea and I had all the stats I needed in three minutes.  I showed him what I wrote and it matched what he was thinking.  He was surprised it turned out to be D&D based.

Any chance of seeing a sample?

Jerome Johan -- HP 5 -- AC 12 (8 in descending)
STR +1
DEX +2
MIND 0
----
Athletics 5
Interaction 2
Lore 1
Skulduggery 1
----
Attack +2
Damage +2
----
Equipment
Rags

Jerome was described as a quick and tough 30 year old who spent his youth as a workman and guard for the Cartwright Guild.  When the king consecrated the land to the Guardian, he went along to get along.  Unfortunately a fellow guilder informed on him out of jealousy and he was accused of still worshipping the old gods in secret.  He declined taking the magical brand of loyalty offered by the priests of the Guardian and has just been cast into the underworld as a heretic and undesirable.  He hopes to find others who have been cast into the underworld before him and, if lucky, find a way out so he can get revenge on the informer.

----

The paragraph about him wasn't written during character creation, but is just my recollection of the short conversation.  And yes, I'm stealing from an early 90s video game series unapologetically.  The stats all might seem high, but they are still based off of the Microlite20 math which I believe is much higher than other D&Ds.  I've also only bothered with the attribute modifier rather than the ability score because with the m20 universal mechanic of d20+stat+skill vs target, it's all I need.

Seems to be on same track mechanically and background-wise.

Are all the other PCs thrown into the underworld as well?

Quote from: Moracai;839255Seems to be on same track mechanically and background-wise.

Are all the other PCs thrown into the underworld as well?

Yes, as a group.  And as the transportation is magical if new characters show up they can be popped in.  There's towns and outposts down there as well.