1. Roll 3d6 on this chart for Climate, Elevation and Humidity of the region
ex: I roll a 3 (Temperate), a 2 (Low), and a 4 (Dry)
1. Roll 3d6 on this chart for Climate, Elevation and Humidity of the region
Latitude/10 | Climate | Elevation | Humidity |
0 | Tropical | Sealevel | Inundated |
1-2 | Subtropical | Low | Humid |
3-4 | Temperate | 1k ft/ 300 m | Dry |
5 | Boreal | 2.5k ft. / 1000 m | Semi-arid |
6 | Subpolar | 5k ft. / 2000 m | Arid |
7-9 | Polar | Treeline | Super-Arid |
d10 | Terrain | Effect |
0 | Rocky | |
1 | Cliff/Canyon | |
2 | Wetter | Shifts Humidity one row down and adds a (d8) 1-2 Nothing, 3-4 Pond, 4-5 Fed by a Spring, 6-8 with a Stream |
3 | Thicker Plants | Thicker Vegetation also shifts Humidity one row down, but water source is ground water/rain |
4 | Flat | |
5 | Lower Ground | Go one row down on the Terrain and Elevation tables. If the Elevation drops to Sea-level, 2in6 chance that a large body of water is found (sea or lake). |
6 | Sandy | |
7 | Mountain Chain | |
8 | Higher Ground | Go one row up on the Terrain and Elevation tables |
9 | Rolling Hills |
Into the Odd was designed to simplify D&D and making it a bit more scifi, but still similar enough that you could play D&D/OSR modules. To differentiate it from D&D, a 19th century industrial vibe was chosen instead of the usual sort-of-medieval fantasy.
Chargen gives you equipment based on your stats roll. Worse stats give you better equipment and vice-versa. Equipment can tell you something about your character.
There are no classes. There are "magical" objects called Arcana sprinkled around the world
Characters progress through milestones, at first based on the number of expedition they undertake, then based on taking an apprentice. When you reach a milestone you roll additional hp and sometimes raise your stats.
There are rules for starting and managing an enterprise and large groups of followers, 'warbands'.
There's a GM section and an introductory dungeon , the Iron Coral
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Electric Bastionland basically uses the same system but now fleshes out the setting that was mentioned in Into the Odd. Bastion is now more 1920s. It's a huge, chaotic city that has 'everything in it'. Deep Country, the land surrounding Bastion that has any biome if you go looking for it. Weirdly, the more you travel away from Bastion, the more technology recedes, like going back in time. You could even find dinosaurs. And then, beyond the Polar Ocean, the Golden Lands get even weirder. Then there's the Underground, populated by machines that like to test adventurers.
These aren't fixed settings. They are merely containers for your ideas. They allow you to come up with any idea without breaking any 'canon' of the world, since you can fit anything you can think of in one of the regions described. Idea for a dungeon? put it in the Underground. Bronze age adventures? Put it in Deep Country. Heist in a big city? Bastion
Oddities take the place of Arcana. The line between what's an oddity and whats mundane is more blurred. Anything out of the ordinary, from a Hic-gun that sometimes fires random shots to a Genie in a Lightbulb with Fenomenal Cosmic Powers can be an Oddity.
At chargen you roll for one of 100 failed careers of your character, each with its own dedicated spread. These, along with the illustrations and random tables sparsed throughout the book, are meant to convey Bastionland's atmosphere and spark ideas for your own gaming content.
Character progression is mainly based on what your character does in the world. The GM is encouraged to create scenarios that will leave the PCs transformed: connections, mutations, assets... that are many ways to achieve this. I'm thinking about writing a blog post about it.
There is also a Scar system that modifies your statistics when you take damage under certain conditions
There's a GM section and some example adventure locations
If you're still indecisive, the designer's pitch is that you should get Into the Odd if you mainly want to run other people's modules, and Electric Bastionland if you want to make your own.
Further developing this project
There are two more playable cards: Repeat Previous Card and Repeat First Card
Cards are played 3 at a time, covered, and then revealed and resolved one at a time. The order of reveal is important, so make sure you are on the same page on which counts as the First Card.
Example:
Player 1 and Player 2 each place 3 cards covered on the table. They decided that the first card is the one on Player 1's left side and Player 2's right side, so they reveal those cards. Player 1's card is as Block while Player 2's card is a Throw. They go through all the steps of the procedure explained in the last blogpost, then move to the second card, and so on. After the clash of the third card is resolved, they check if someone pulled off a Combo, resolve that effect, take back their cards and play another round.
Obviously, it doesn't make much sense to play Repeat First Card as your first card. If Repeat First Card is played as the first card and the opponent used an attack, their attack automatically connects.
A Combo is pulled off if the right cards have been played in the right order, and all your attacks connected.
Most Combos have a one-time use that lasts the whole combat:
1. Enemy can't play Fast Strike anymore
2. Enemy can't play Heavy Strike anymore
3. Enemy can't play Dodge anymore
4. Enemy can't play Throw anymore
5. Enemy can't play Block anymore
6. Enemy can't play Repeat Previous Card anymore
7. Enemy can't play Repeat First Card anymore
8. Once per turn, at the moment of reveal, you can change one of the opponent's cards on the field with one from yout hand.
9. Once per turn, at the moment of reveal, you can change one of your cards on the field with one from your hand,
10. Once per turn, at the moment of reveal, you can force the opponent to change one card on the field with one from their hand,
11. You can't go lower than a d6
12. Enemy can't go higher than d12
13. Step up your die to the highest step (this combo can be played more than once)
14. Step down opponent's die to the lowest step (this combo can be used more than once)
15. Your cards' effects are amplified by one die, so Fast Strike steps you up twice, Heavy Strike steps you up thrice and the opponent down twice, Dodge steps you both down twice etc
16. You don't have disadvantage anymore
17. Your die can't be stepped down anymore
18. If you and your opponent play the same attack card, theirs has disadvantage
19. Once per turn, you can reverse the result of a bout by swapping the cards after rolling eg. if your opponent's Fast Strike connected you get to step up the die instead. For the purpose of a Combo, it's your new card that counts, and your attack that counts as if it connected
20. Instant knock-out (show this combo to the enemy before the match)
To know what combo you're capable of, draw three random cards in order, and roll a d20. The Combo is whatever combination of Attacks, Blocks or Dodges resulted, and the effect is the one indicated by the d20. If your character has multiple combos and you roll the same combo twice, or the same effect twice, redraw the cards or reroll the die respectively.
If the first card you drew is Repeat First Card, swap the first and third card of the combo
In a TTRPG, PCs may start with one combo slot (or even none) and gain an additional combo slot for each powerful enemy they dispatch.
If you're just playing this as a tabletop game, you may draw up to 3 combos before the match.
Example:
Player 1 wants to know what their character's combo is. They draw, in order: Dodge, Repeat First Card and Heavy Strike, and roll a d20 with a result of 20.
This means that if in a round they manage to pull off two subsequent Dodges and then connect a Heavy Strike, they win the match.
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How can we turn this card game into a TTRPG?
When I think of kung-fu movies, particularly Jackie Chan's, I imagine alot of gags using the environment
At the moment of reveal, before rolling dice, you can decide to do your Move using the environment.
If you use your environment for a Move, this is always pulled off but there is no effect on the dice and your Combos aren't triggered. However, your opponent's Combo isn't disrupted.
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Example :
Player 1's character, 'Guile' vs Player 2's character, 'Jackie', are fighting in a bar
They both play a Fast Strike as their first card. Jackie decides that their character is breaking a bottle on Guile's head, so Jackie automatically wins the bout, buth their dice doesn't step up.
Next card is a Heavy Strike for Guile and a Throw for Jackie. Once again, Jackie decides to use the environment and slide Guile on the bar countertop, smashing his face against numerous glasses.
Finally, they both go for a Heavy Strike, and Guile comes out on top. stepping up his die twice nd stepping down Jackie's die once. Player 1 reveals that - Fast Strike . Heavy Strike - Heavy Strike - was their Combo and that means they can resolve its effect.
If Jackie's combo was Fast Strike - Throw - Heavy Strike, and he managed to connect his last Heavy Strike, he still wouldn't have completed his Combo since he used the environment during this round
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Objects usually break once used
Assume the characters are moving around the arena so everythinig is in reach.
Also, assume they're able to do incredibly acrobatic and showy stuff.
It's important to create highly interactive battle arenas, think about Jackie Chan's movies or Pirate sof the Caribbean. They can include:
1. Stuff to break on the opponent's head: pool cues, bottles, paintings, pans...
2. Swingy stuff, chandeliers, rope bridges...
3, Verticality, numerous planes of actions, stairs
4. Stilts
5. Hydrants, water hoses
6. Big hamster wheels...?
7. Kitchen stoves?
I don't know, let your fantasy run wild on how the characters can hurt each other.in the most funny way.
Per convertire gli HP mi baso sugli HD:
<4: d6hp
4-10: 2d6 hp
>10: 3d6 hp
Sinceramente la formula consigliata da Yochai Gal per cui 1 HD= 1HP è più semplice e dà gli stessi risultati
Se creo il mostro dal nulla, come consigliato qui, dò d6 hp se è una creature normale, 2d6 hp se se la cava nel combattimento, 3d6 hp se è proprio tosto
Le statistiche le tiro su 3d6 ma le scambio o le riaggiusto se non hanno senso
Armatura:
1 se il mostro è grosso o è parzialmente protetto
2 se è enorme o completamente protetto
3 se è proprio fatto di un materiale duro come roccia o metallo
Dopodiché guardo questo articolo e confronto per vedere se l'effetto che avrà sul gioco è in linea col feeling del mostro
Attacchi:
Faccio la media del danno del mostro originale e la dimezzo, calcolo che tipo di dado farebbe quel danno in media e poi lo scalo verso l'alto
Ad esempio se un mostro fa 2d8+4 (media 13) e lo dimezzo (6,5). È il danno di un dado d12. Normalmente prenderei il dado più alto (d20) ma siccome questo è un mostro della 5e e quindi fa molti danni, preferisco dimezzarlo ancora, quindi (3,25) ---> (d6) ---> (d8)
Sempre basandomi su quegli articoli mi domando se può attaccare più bersagli o addirittura fare un attacco BLAST
Per decidere quanto danno dovrebbe fare un attacco blast mi baso su questa regolina di Electric Bastionland: "If in doubt as to how many targets can be affected, roll the weapon’s die." (pg 8)
Per effetti secondari bisogna giocare di fantasia, ma qui il consiglio più importante è: "don't make soft monsters"
Per le personalità dei mostri spesso uso questa tecnica di Chris di prendere i template da Electric Bastionland e modificarli in base al mostro.
Inoltre cerco di infilare un effetto tra gli attacchi o la personalità che "cambi" il PG in modo diegetico diegetico diegetico
E cerco di porre tutto in chiave di azioni, di iniziare con un verbo attivo, in modo che qualcuno che legga abbia un menu di azioni da fare
Esempio: convertiamo un grifone da OSE
Descrizione: sappiamo tutti com'è un grifone. La cosa interessante è che attacca i cavalli
Statistiche: AC 14, 7 HD, 2 artigli d4 e un morso d8
La descrizione del comportamento ci ripete che attacca i cavalli, che difende il suo nido, che possono essere addomesricati ma vanno comunque tenuti alla larga dai cavalli
Conversione delle statistiche: armatura 1 (grossa taglia), 2d6 HP (8), 3d6 statistiche:
12 STR, 9 DEX, 5 CHA
Ritiro CHA perché la descrizione dice che è un animale fiero: 11
Non segno niente perché sono tutte nella media
Attacchi: decido di metterne uno solo per volta perché a me sembra strano attaccare sia col becco che gli artigli nello stesso round, e più bersagli contemporaneamente, però alzo il danno a d10
Comportamento:
Decido che il motivo per cui uccide i cavalli e altre bestie domestiche è perché lo considera un affronto contro la natura selvaggia. E da qui parte un filo di pensieri che si conclude con un grifone con una sorta di ideologia fanatica. Inoltre decido che può parlare, altrimenti sarebbe difficile per i giocatori comprendere questa ideologia
Risultato finale:
Grifone: armatura 1 (grossa taglia), 8 HP, artigliata d10
- Uccide gli animali domestici per il crimine di aver rinnegato la loro natura
- Dichiara che gli umani sono una peste perché si sono separati dalla natura e ora la stanno corrompendo
- Minaccia di ucciderli se non si spogliano dei loro averi terreni e non tornano a vivere come animali
Lista di articoli citati:
https://www.bastionland.com/2020/03/bastionland-non-conversion-guide.html
https://www.bastionland.com/2014/07/d-5e-to-into-odd-conversion-guide.html
https://www.bastionland.com/2022/04/defence.html
https://www.bastionland.com/2015/09/how-i-run-into-odd.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWjYxOfdfvs&ab_channel=Bastionland
Altri articoli interessanti
https://www.bastionland.com/2017/04/imprints-foreground-growth-in-context.html
https://www.bastionland.com/2016/03/reaction-rolls-in-into-odd.html
Some time ago, a reddit user asked: "what would you put in your GM binder?". Here's my list:
Ask the Stars, an oracle: https://www.bastionland.com/2020/12/ask-stars-minimal-solo-rpg.html?m=0
My own tables for hexcrawl building, and the articles and tables linked within: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sdwPOWSrtMndwp4vf_bqtnP1X674hk5w
Points of interest d6: 1. Lair; 2. Dungeon; 3. Landmark; 4. Settlement; 5. Secret; 6. Loot
Landmarks: https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=59911
More landmarks/encounter vignettes: https://docs.google.com/file/d/1odvwxifgGvbeaInMChL5zzAPmtp_QsQo/view
Why is your replacement PC in the dungeon?: https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/03/osr-table-of-replacement-pcs.html
Running out of light in a dungeon/time to end the open table session: https://riseupcomus.blogspot.com/2019/04/you-are-likely-to-be-eaten-by-grue.html
The "catching up with the party" table in Macchiato Monsters, for players joining an ongoing adventure
Weather tables