Character Classes for my RPG game

 I've been working on a solo RPG

system this year geared toward the type of play I like. 

• Quick character creation
• Trackable, meaningful inventory, encumbrance system.
• Random generated spell system 
• Sparse silver based economy
• Fast and deadly combat

A lot of it is in place and I print it out in booklet form and play thru it, adding notes, editing, then print the new edition and repeat. I'm trying to keep at 14 pages (not including front and back cover) plus a combined character and play sheet. 

10 pages are pretty much done, but still working on a few things. Still fleshing out random charts for magic items and tinkering with level progression, but the main functions or classes, combat, magic, economy and gameplay are pretty tight. 

Once I get the print done I will pop in the art work and possibly put it on itch.io ( mainly for my own satisfaction). 

This is the current character and gameplay sheet I've been using. A hex field for setting up encounters and four characters with turn timer and encounter, usage blocks. 

RPG, Wargaming counter tool

 I use dice as markers quite often to keep track of HP, but what to do when the numbers I'm tracking get higher than the die pips? I toyed with making small wooden slide counters with limited success, but then I located these Knitting counters.

I placed a standard six sided die by them to show the size.  They are hollow, and slide onto knitting needles and I think you click them to keep track of the pattern or something ( I have no clue about knitting). 

They are made of plastic, don't really click sharply into place but will hold the position you rotate them to. With two adjustable columns they can track from 01 to 00 or one to one hundred. A pack of 10, five of each size was about $7.00 if I recall. 

I have primered and painted them and they still function well. For under $10.00 I think this is an excellent buy and a handy thing to have for wargaming. 

DIY dice (cheap!!!)

 I use a small dice tower to roll when I'm gaming and the one irritant is the 4 sided die. Trying to pick it up out of the tray is difficult because of the triangle shape. I have found some barrel shaped ones that work pretty good but they are pricey and won't be buying any more since I found these. 

These were at the Dollar store, which is now the Dollar twenty five store, and are 36 to a package. Yes, they are six sided, but at that cost I simply number the sides 1 thru 4 with two sides blank. Do I have to re roll sometimes?- Yes but its easier to grab on to them, and they seem to tumble better than the d4's.

They are pretty light weight compared to  acrylic dice and have sharp edges, but those can be sanded. I have some I've painted, but I used a sharpie on a few right out of the package and was rolling in seconds.

You can make d4s and extra d6s, but I have also made a six choice worded oracle die which is handy. 

The top row of dice have been painted with acrylic paint and I will mark those in the future, the second row has 2 d4s (marked with a sharpie) and an oracle die. I angled the numbers on the d4s to avoid any confusion with a couple of other dice I made as hitpoint markers for characters. 

I will edit this post with a small table on how to use 2 d6 to replace all the standard dice rolls if you are ever found lacking a d20 or other type of die. I'm sure there are other great uses for these beyond my imagination, so I will be on the lookout for ideas - advantage, treasure bonuses, wpn generation, weather, etc.

Die replacement chart using d6's

d4 - roll one d6 until you roll 1 - 4

d6 - duh!

d8 - roll 1 d6   1-3 = 1-4,  then second roll not counting 5or 6

                        4-6 = 5-8, then second roll  1 = 5

                                                                    2= 6

                                                                    3= 7

                                                                     4= 8,  5/6 not counted.

d10- roll 1 d6  1-3 = 1-5, then second roll not counting 6

                        4-6 = 6-10 ,then second roll  1=6

                                                                       2=7

                                                                       3=8

                                                                       4=9

                                                                       5=10

d12 - roll 1 d6  1-3 = 1-6, then second roll 

                         4-6 = 7-12, then second roll add six to the rolled pip.

d20 - roll 1 d6 1-3 = 1-10

                        4-6 = 11 - 20  then roll the d10 pattern above to finish the final d20 roll. 

A bit slow but if you only have one d6 you can still generate the random numbers in all the standard gaming dice.

Simple Oracle d6

1 No, and             4 Yes, but

2 No                     5 Yes

3 No, but              6 Yes, and

                                                                      

Devilry Afoot

This is my newest purchase and I got the hardcover off of Amazon. Based in the early 17/18th century time period this is a skirmish type wargame with witches, spectres, zombies, etc as the monsters and different classes of protagonists that fight them. 

An initial browse of the book revealed great period artwork and well laid out charts. There is a campaign modifier so characters can develop as they make it thru adventures, and it is a co-op, solo type of play with an AI function for the monsters. 

I have plenty of 15mm miniatures to cover all the entities and characters and should be able to skirmish effectively on a 1.5x1.5 foot board. I will be starting to play this later in the month when work slows down.  

 

More OSR games and toolkits

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                        Solitary Depths by Chaoclypse is a supplement for Mork Borg's Solitary Defilement.

As the author states, "Take what you want, leave what you don't." Full of charts, and mechanisms to help enhance the aspects you enjoy during solo play. Evocative artwork thruout.

Cairn is a rules light OSR system similar to Maze Rats. Of note are the starting gear packages for different characters, and the scars chart.

Harpers Quest is an OSR style game that actually contains most of the elements for stand alone solo play. Quest generator, character creation, dungeon size, elements and monster categories, oracles and NPC generators and prompt lists in addition to a small sample adventure. 

OSR games from Kickstarter

 I picked these up through Kickstarter mainly to get the premium copies and to support the authors. ShadowDark and Knave 2e are both well done and are useful to me as resource and inspiration. 

Since I solo, I like to play with multiple characters (3 to 4) instead of one main character and hirelings, so I lean toward Maze Rats' 3 ability characters, instead of the creation in SD or Knave. Keeping it simple makes the game flow quicker and I usually don't incorporate much beyond STR, DEX and WIL. 

I have 2 copies of Maze Rats from the pdf, but nice to get the copy with the new artwork cover for the bookshelf. 

OSR games aquisitions

 

                                        Some of the games I've purchased in the last year and a half.

LTNP (long time no post)

 With the last 1.75 yrs growing a business, time was limited for recreational activities, so although collecting and playing D&D and wargames continued on a limited scale, posting took a back seat. 

As my work season winds down I will try to get some results posted on what I've been up to.

DIY dice! (inexpensive)

Dice conversion chart for people who don't like multi sided die.

An inexpensive 6MM army for grand battles. 

My solo OSR game

Games I've bought and found interesting

and other things!