[Toldara Tuesday] Quick Outline of the Halberd Fantasy Roleplaying (USR) Adaptation

I planned on getting to this sooner but the action at work really picked up so I was a tad bit too busy to dedicate the time to blogging; it just came down to simple priorities and the blog had to wait.  I am starting off the Toldara conversions with a look at the Halberd Fantasy Roleplaying game of the USR line of products.  I am planning on a document that can be used in tandem with the Halberd rules for play in my campaign world of Toldara.  Of course, there will be some tweaks and customization here and there because I just can not seem to leave any rules system alone.  The following is just a quick outline of subjects to cover and is - as always - subject to change.

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Cover: An illustration showing a combat scene involving a party of adventurers and a squad of orcs.

Credits: Exactly what is says – author, artist, etc.

Forward: Some thoughts on Halberd, USR, and Toldara.

Toldara at a Glance: A general overview of the campaign setting with several of the more well-known locations mentioned.

Character Creation: This section will guide the player through the process of creating a character for play in the world of Toldara.  Any restrictions or additions to the standard list of archetypes and races available in the Halberd rules will be detailed in this section.

Money: Information about the coins of Toldara.

Organizations: Information about groups that take an active role in the world of Toldara.  The PCs may encounter them, join them, or become rivals with them.

Map: a map of the world of Toldara.

Rumors & Legends: Common rumors and legends that will work as adventure seeds.

Adversaries: Several monsters and foes for encounters.

Treasures: Magical Equipment and Artifacts to be discovered. 

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In the next post, I will start crunching some numbers and give some specific details...

[Toldara Tuesday] Further Thoughts on Game Systems

I am using one more post to gather my thoughts on the various game systems I am using to play-test Toldara material. In the next post I will start presenting statistics, write ups, and information for the races in these various systems. I am not sure if I will dedicate each post to looking at a single race in all of the game systems - may split that into two posts if it is large enough - or devote each post to just a single game system with all of the Toldara races.  

Back to the Dungeon! RPG

For anyone that does not know, Back to the Dungeon! RPG is a neo-clone game that is based on familiar terms and concepts but introduces alterations and additions to the game system instead of trying to faithfully emulate a certain rules set from the past of the hobby.  This version is the most complete and up to date next to the MicroLite 20 version.  The main parts that are missing include the basic world information along with a race and class or two; some copying and pasting will fix most of the other information that needs updating.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

My original concept of Toldara actually lines up quite well with the feel and tone of the typical DCC RPG experience.  Toldara was always pictured as fantasy with a little bit of gonzo mixed in.  I have tinkered around with this rules set a little bit but I have very little practical experience using it.  I am highly intrigued by the possibilities and will at least give it an honest shot.  I may have to consult some people with much more experience with the system to assist me in completing the information.
  

Halberd Fantasy Role Playing

This is another rules-lite entry on the list.  I do not have a lot of experience with systems such as this but I am highly interested in applying the fast and loose nature of the game to Toldara.  The older I get, the more I am interested in playing than arguing about the rules so Halberd looks pretty great to me.  The write ups used in this game are easy and simple to use so it should progress pretty quickly in initial development.

MicroLite 20

This will probably be the first handbook released for the Toldara campaign for no other reason than it is the most complete.

I am really considering doing a dual-stat version with another OGL-based system. Maybe a triple-stat presentation could even work if it was done properly.  I will have to double check but I think all of them have no restrictions against using their game statistics with other game statistics statistics in the same product.  It should be relatively easy to present each new race or class with all three sets of statistics on just one page.  I will be investigating this further...    

Perilous Journeys

This version of the campaign material write up will be somewhat more challenging than the others.  Unlike the OGL-based systems, Perilous Journeys is a skill-based percentile system without classes/levels and the list of player character races is quite a bit different from the traditional fantasy offerings; I would also have to look at the races that are not available in Toldara and decide what to do about them.  It will be more work but it will be worth it to see how things convert over.

Swords & Wizardry: Complete
I started the list with an OGL-based game and I am ending the list with an OGL-based game.  Even though I have the B/X rules I really dig the Swords & Wizardry: Complete rules because it feels like a match for the complexity level of the mixed together D&D/AD&D rules we used in our youth in my old gaming group. Using these rules would also allow easier implementation of a dual-stat or triple-stat handbook.

Look for some game statistics and write ups in the next installment.  I am also going to experiment around with the dual or triple-stat format and see how it looks.  More later... 

[Toldara Tuesday] Some Preliminary Plans Revealed

This post has a list of observations I have made in regards to rebooting my campaign world of Toldara. The information here will serve as an outline and will give an indication of what to expect in future posts concerning Toldara.

Game System(s)
Shortly after the release of the 3E core books I started making notes for my campaign world; it was not long before I decided to share the design duties with my cousin and we added more information as time passed. We made the transition to 3.5E and eventually went to Pathfinder. Alex has done most of the tweaking in both of those systems.  I enjoy Pathfinder but I have gotten way behind on the releases and I also want to experiment with using some other systems to represent the world of Toldara.  I am leaving the future Pathfinder development of Toldara in the very capable hands of Alex.  The systems I am currently experimenting with include the following:

Back to the Dungeon! RPG : A neo-clone system that I have contributed material to the design.  It only seems fitting that I should write a supplement.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: For no other reason than the funky aspect of the game design.

Halberd Fantasy Role Playing (USR) - I like the fast and loose nature of the rules and I am just curious how it will handle stuff originally done in another crunchier system.

MicroLite 20: This greatly condensed version of the open gaming fantasy rules is of great interest to me. The "MicroToldara" rules are basically complete.  All I really need to do is add the Five F background system, a few classes, and then the basic world details.  This may very well be the first handbook completed.

Perilous Journeys: A skill-based fantasy game that is not a class & level system but is the spiritual successor to Lejendary Adventures.

Swords & Wizardry-Complete: I dig it because the complexity level feels about right on a match for the mash up of AD&D/D&D we used to play back in the day.  Hell, I might just do it all in B/X format...

I realize that there are six systems mentioned above for play-testing purposes.  What I aim to do is something similar to the character funnel from DCC RPG except through the process of tinkering with the different game systems I will be able to determine which rules set best suits my game play tastes.

Races

The world of Toldara has always added four races to the core races in the rules - Anshus (a humanoid feline-like race), Karnin (a humanoid canine-like race), Oranian (a bird-like winged race), and the Slarn (a lizard-like race) - in addition to any changes to the core races.  I have been thinking about the races lately with an eyes towards trimming the list a bit.

I know that Alex added Goblins to the list of available player races in his Pathfinder campaign.  I have done the same in the MicroToldara version.  I am not sure the Goblin will be an option in any other game systems.

I am starting to wonder if any of the traditionally core races should be limited or excluded from the campaign. If one of them were excluded then one of the new races could take the place of the excluded race.  I am also considering moving the Oranians to NPC status due to their wings and flying ability.  

Map

After getting some feedback and looking around at other maps on blogs or other sites I have decided to start over on the map.  I think the best way to accomplish that is by starting small and then expanding outward. The player characters will begin as novices so they really will not be travelling far for adventure.  The simple truth is that I do not need the entire world mapped out from the start.  A new map with the elements I want to keep will be completed shortly.  As the world information grows through playing in the world then the map will increase in size.

Starting Location

Of course, the map will start out with the town and the surrounding area.  I am going to keep it a limited area with just a short distance in each direction mapped out.  Basically, a size that will be big enough for the novice adventurers to explore with hints at a larger, more dangerous world outside of those boundaries. Things I want to use include the following:

town: big enough that it offers a useful selection of equipment and adventure opportunities but some of the "better" stuff is available in larger cities.  I am not shooting for ultra-realism but I want it to represent a decent size place with a large enough population where not everybody is acquainted with everybody and there are still surprises here and there.

caravans: the caravans will need guards due to raiders and this will provide some adventure opportunity in itself.
  
mine: the nearby mine will need laborers and will also be the nearest dungeon for the characters after some trouble starts up inside.

mountains: there will be some mountains nearby with caves scattered among them and if the characters go far enough into the mountains who knows what sorts of adventure awaits?

Other

Some of the topics I am working on include a history of the realm and surrounding areas, a list of deities, some organizations, attempting to make coins unique instead of generic gold/silver/etc., and making notes as I think up other stuff.

More later....   

[Toldara Tuesday] A Fresh Start

This is the first post for the Toldara Tuesday feature I am adding to this blog.  I think you will find the concept easy to follow.  Any post with the "Toldara Tuesday" label will be connected to my home campaign world of Toldara in some way or another.  It could be presenting one of the new character races or monsters in a different rules system, a map related to a specific region, details on some part of the culture, or anything from a host of other options.  I had originally intended the first Toldara Tuesday post to feature some sort of rules information but I decided to start at the beginning.  I am simply going to state my ideas and goals moving forward with this post and then delve into the actual game design or modification beginning with the next post.  

I have been tinkering with the details of my campaign world, Toldara, for several years now.  Things have come and gone with each new update.  I am currently between groups - and I have been for some time - but I think now is the perfect time to do a reboot on the world.  The first thing I am going to do is let Alex handle the Pathfinder version.  He has much more experience with that system than I do.  I still think Pathfinder is great but he has a much better handle on the system.  I am going to focus my efforts toward assembling several less rules heavy versions of the player material.  I believe that three versions of the information will be the best way to go.  I will most likely use U.S.R. for a really quick set up.  I am currently working on a conversion to the Perilous Journeys skill based percentile system and a Back to the Dungeon version.  With just a little effort the MicroLite version could be complete.  Do not be surprised if a Dungeon Crawl Classics or a Swords & Wizardry: Complete version pops up also.  I will discover the two or three systems I prefer to represent Toldara by Tinkering with them.

I have gotten some feedback on my map and will be making some changes.  I will also be using some of the resources pointed out on ars phantasia in various posts.  My plan is simple with all of this.  I am going to keep what I like from the previous version and update everything else to better fit my concept of the campaign world.  It will still be based on my old campaigns with new stuff thrown in also.  All I have to do is find a group to help test out the stuff.  More later....