|
|
Post by marainein on Oct 25, 2015 7:53:33 GMT
With our glorious leader engaged in melee against a horde of dragon[ magazine article]s, I thought I'd start a thread about what stuff from Dragon Magazine should be included in FRUA II - or at least what stuff should be included first? What would be the top 10 articles to include in the game? Now the plan (in the sense that I have plans - other people might just label what I call plans to be transient ADHD impulses...) is to create each game world on a framework of good quality, mainly classic modules. Then furnish it in with details by procedural/random generation, to make it look like an interesting and lived in place. So I'm particularly interested in adding lots of random generation tables. Two good articles for this sort of thing, both from #105: Travel works both ways - pg 14 An article discussing all the non-monster, (mainly) non-combat encounters you can have on the road. It reminds me a bit of Darklands, a 90s crpg based in realistic medieval Germany where you could have all sorts of fascinating encounters just by travelling around on the roads. The well-equipped victim - pg 32 - lots of miscellaneous stuff that low level NPCs might carry around. |
|
|
|
Post by Rystellin on Oct 25, 2015 8:59:14 GMT
Neat thought, marainein. Careful with the generator tables though; you don't want too much engine work.
PS, how do you pronounce your name? mah-rain-ine? mar-ay-nee-in?
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 25, 2015 9:23:41 GMT
I should hopefully be done in a couple of weeks, and then I will return to regular posting here.
In the meantime, I'd love to see a version of UA that includes ALL of the 1e Dragon magazine articles.
As far as AD&D computer gaming goes, I would liken this to "The Holy Grail".
Quest,
Prespos
|
|
|
|
Post by marainein on Oct 25, 2015 21:19:49 GMT
Neat thought, marainein. Careful with the generator tables though; you don't want too much engine work. PS, how do you pronounce your name? mah-rain-ine? mar-ay-nee-in? I don't, but if I did I'd try something like mah-RYE-nayn |
|
|
|
Post by marainein on Oct 25, 2015 21:23:51 GMT
I should hopefully be done in a couple of weeks, and then I will return to regular posting here. In the meantime, I'd love to see a version of UA that includes ALL of the 1e Dragon magazine articles. As far as AD&D computer gaming goes, I would liken this to "The Holy Grail". Quest, Prespos I know you do, but 'ALL' is a lot - how many issues cover 1st edition? 150? Multiply that by the number of articles in each...just for a start, pick the 10 you'd most like. What would they be? |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 26, 2015 2:50:47 GMT
Arrgh, this is a difficult question: it's like asking me to choose between children, or, Dragon eggs, if you can forgive the expression.
That said, I will endeavor to provide a good answer.
Let's take a look at AD&D, first.
We have:
1) monsters
2) spells
3) magic items
4) deities/heroes
None of these are rules, per se, but options for the game. That said, we've discovered in the spell thread how some spells demand that the programmer provides supporting code in the core of the game.
Anyway, I wouldn't include anything from categories 1-4, to start.
That said, let me write 10 off the top of my head.
1) The 5% Principle (Dragon 80). Extremely easy to code, this one.
This article gives the concept of 5% improvements in THACO and saving throws, per level.
2) 0-level characters, somewhere in the 50s.
Another article by Lenard Lakofka.
3) It's a Material World (Dragon 81)
This provides rules for spell components.
4) An article about monster parts in Dragon 137.
How much is the skin of a displacer beast worth? Find out here! (That's the general idea, and I'm not sure if they included displacer beasts).
5) A city generation article in Dragon 136.
6) The Half-Ogre (Best of Dragon vol. IV)
7) Attack Priority System. (Dragon 71?)
This would vastly change the flow of combat, and it's one that I've thought about before.
8) Unarmed Combat (Best of Dragon vol. IV)
9) Fantasy Needs Reality, Too (Dragon 40)
Actually written for Chivalry & Sorcery, with an option to use it for AD&D. Includes campaign-level detail, and the concept of the World Balance.
10) Critical Hits (Best of Dragon V)
That a list off the top of my head.
What would your Top 10 articles be?
Pres
|
|
|
|
Post by marainein on Oct 26, 2015 23:17:28 GMT
That a list off the top of my head. What would your Top 10 articles be? Pres I don't really have a top 10 list of articles, part of why I started this thread was to learn about the really outstanding articles. I haven't looked at all those you listed yet, but I did like the city generation system a lot. I suspect we need content generation additions more than rules additions. Anyway, if you can think of a ranking for 11-20, keep posting! |
|
|
|
Post by ratbreath on Dec 2, 2015 12:30:41 GMT
What would be the top 10 articles to include in the game? "Two hands are better than one" Dragon #127: Which weapons can be used by what races, whether they're one or two-handed, and what can be dual-wielded by whom. Otherwise you have BtB halflings wielding halberds. "Hey, wanna be a kobold?" Dragon #141: Rules for playing the lower hit dice humanoids. I would skip their alternate stat rolling system and just keep the modifiers and min/max stats for the race. Also has excellent rules on shamans and witch doctors. "In defense of the shield" Dragon #127: Rules for putting weapon slots into getter more out of shields & the introduction of the mantlet shield. "Taking the sting out of poison" Dragon #81: The best expansion of clarification of the 1e poison rules I've seen so far. "The wild warriors" Dragon #133: The berserker class. Berserkers are awesome. Every campaign should have berserkers. "Wanted:" Dragon #52. Three different versions of the bounty hunter class. I like #3. Bounty hunters are great for stories and sub-plots. "The corrected cavalier" Dragon #148: Much more reasonable rules on the cavalier class. "Realistic vital statistics" Dragon #91: Adds greater and more interesting variety to PC height and weight; makes sure the 18/00 fighter is bigger than the 7 strength magic user; gives the smaller races more reasonable weights. "First, spread the faith" Dragon #92: Essentially how to properly RP a cleric, but this could be coded into restrictions based on deity choice as well as rewards for player choices. "What good PCs are made of" Dragon #96: Character history/backstory information. Could be worked in as a set of tables which have bearing both initially and at certain story points. |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 4, 2015 2:02:05 GMT
ratbreath: I will try to get all of the articles that you mentioned online, via .html. marainein: I will try to the same for the articles that mentioned, too. There are about 1,000 AD&D 1st Edition articles in Dragon. I'm trying to do one a day, so, about 3 years or so of 'work'. Here's a "sneak preview" of what I am up to: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22333214/1/d/d.htmDragon, Prespos 
|
|
