Rediscovering my love for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: a review of second edition

So like many, especially fellow children of the '80s/90s, my first rpg was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition (2e). My wife also particularly likes these rules, as she has put many hours into the Baldur's Gate series. Recently, I rediscovered about how awesome the rules are even in comparison to the current gold standard of OSR rules - B/X (basic/expert) Rules Cyclopedia D&D. One reason too was acquiring from half-price books a printed 2e player's handbook (I apparently lost/sold my original childhood one).

Having re-read the book and thought about the rules, some advantages of second edition over other D&D (even B/X!) and in some regards (proficiencies, fighter rules, spells) first edition:

• Ability score bonuses are pretty small (+1/+2 at like 18) and start at higher scores (16+ usually), which means that they are overall less important to the game than in B/X. A character does not suck in comparison to his friends and the NPCs simply because his fighter only has 11 STR compared to 16 or something, because he's only missing out on a small bonus. And the way scores are generated, 4d6 drop lowest 1 die, increases the likelihood that the PC will have one great score to feel important. Other stuff the ability scores do is simply provide a guide to the character's basic abilities, like how many languages known or their max bench press. This allows them to be used as a guide for in-game decision making
• The class abilities are well-done. I especially like the fighters in this edition. The full impact of the rule is somewhat buried, but basically fighters are the only class that can specialize in weapons and doing so gives 2 attacks every other round starting at 1st level! This is an awesome ability that really makes the Fighter shine (everyone likes multiple rolls!) and is also simple and straightforward. No counting HD of enemies or something. This ability being denied to Paladins and Rangers also makes Fighters actually more important, which I like as I think the latter classes should be available.
• Class requirements, in both ability scores and race. This helps keep things thematic and balanced. Also, the classes being organized into groups of Warrior/Priest/Wizard/Rogue helps if you want to make custom classes that still fit in the mold without breaking the game, and keeps similar classes together in terms of HP. This level of rationalization of the rules helps.
• There's lots of options for weapons, armor, and spells, which are the meat of any game. Weapons come in all varieties, they list initiative modifiers (but this is an optional rule!), you can turn on/off weapon type v. armor type, etc. All the spells list their "School" or "Sphere" for wizards and priests respectively, so you can easily create custom lists to fit your setting.
• Spells are not under-powered at low levels. A specialist wizard gains a few more and then the spells no longer do paltry damage amounts. Instead, its reasonable. Also, it takes soooo many level of wizard to get the truly great, gamebreaking spells, so this isn't such a game breaker. 
• Proficiencies are actually awesome, especially non-weapon proficiencies. Now some may turn up their nose, saying they're too close to a skill system, but I in fact feel the opposite. They provide specific "extra" (though mundane) abilities to characters to let the player and DM know what the character can do. Does my character know how to ride a horse, yes or no? If so, you'll not need to make a check - so in actuality reducing silly "can I make a check" to do everything under the sun that comes up in a game. The DM can simply look to the character's proficiencies to know whether they know about some topic. The way I deal with them though is to leave the "slots" available as the character plays - if in play Heraldry comes up as something useful, and it's available to the character class, I let the player decide whether they want to spend one of the limited (3/4) slots to gain that knowledge. Then going forward she'll always know about heraldry. It gives some structure to making the character unique based on in-game play.

Beyond the specifics, generally what appeals to me about 2e is that everything is very thematic and it shows the DM a roadmap for making the rules fit their own particular setting. Want to run an ancient greece game? Swap out this and that, deny certain classes and races, use the bronze plate rules but drop regular platemail, etc. Want your magic-users to only have illusion and divination spells? You're ready to go because all the spells are divided into schools. The core classes like Fighter and Priest fit many settings because their abilities are so straight forward (extra good at weapon attacks, being restricted to particualr deity's spheres of influence). And its faster than needing to come up with all the customized rules for your setting, because 2e's rules are such a grab bag of goodies.

That said, of course there are some major flaws, especially in light of the way we've all being playing D&D in the many years since this was published.

• Information organization and presentation is somewhat suck. There's no handy dandy bullet point list of class abilities or charts with all the options. you have to read through each class and race description. Rules are spread out in separate chapters (e.g. weapon damage is one place, number of attacks with weapons another, the effects of specialization a third). This can be solved with a simple reference chart you make yourself, but ugh, why make people do that work. At least the authors put a compiled set of most of the game's charts in the back (handy spells by level and spells by school/sphere are there too!).
• The weapon damage rules are dumb. They make no sense in terms of why would I pick a horseman's flail over a "polearm" over a halberd. Some are doing like 1d4+1 damage but seem substantially the same weapon as another doing 1d10 damage. This leads to hidden 'traps' for unwary casual players - ooohh I want a Ranseur! Well, johnny that does less damage than a battle axe but requires two hands and basically it sucks, you fail. I looked to Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea and yanked those rules. (The weapon damage problem goes back to AD&D 1e's also nonsensical damages etc.). 
• Dexterity is overpowered because it breaks the pattern I noted above that scores only give small bonuses. Not only does it influence initiative, chance of surprise, ranged attack, and AC, it gives BIG AC bonuses. Nerfed when I stole more rules from Astonishing Swordsmen (AS&SH, pronounced Ash). 

All in all, I highly recommend giving second edition another look. It overall is not more complicated than B/X but has alot more options and food for thought. So if you're like me and find it easier to pick and choose from a menu of rules and ability options rather than create them from a skeletal baseline, get yourself a copy and start playing AD&D again.

WFRP House Rules to live by

As any rpg table will have after getting used to using a rules set for awhile, ive imposed some house rules.

Initiative: We roll. Each PC rolls as usual a base initiative test (modified by talents or weapons), and notes success or failure levels. NPCs/monsters do so as a group (altogether or like goblins one initiative, orcs another). Then act in highest success levels to lowest (highest failure levels).

Simplified Shields: these ignore the off-hand penalty for parrying  (-20) but do not grant a defensive bonus, simply the +2 AP. This was too cumbersome to track, involved a stupid calculation ("but wait etc. -20 offhand but +10 defensive!"), while Shields are still awesome with their +2 AP. I would restore the +10 Defensive quality to those with the Melee (Parry) skill.

Capped Advantage: Max Advantage = Initiative Bonus. Though Advantage is easier to lose than many of its detractors think (any wound wipes out, any disengage wipes out, and lose 1 Advantage per round outnumbered), it can spike quickly. 

No Advantage for Parrying: Though the rules say any successful opposed combat test gives +1 Adv., this is simply too cumbersome to track (especially for my NPCs). Advantage is also effective enough without giving an outnumbered opponent +4 Advantage for several successful parries. (However, I do provide +1A if you crit hit an enemy while parrying).

Deathblows:  If you strike an enemy down to 0 wounds, gain a free follow up attack. Must be adjacent target or have quick draw type weapon (toss a dagger, bow-in-hand etc.). I like this rule, it's fun and not that difficult to track.

Larger Fear: The rules impose Fear tests when facing a foe Larger than you. This is too much and penalizes halflings (size Small) unduly, so I changed it to 2 sizes larger.

Platemail: while platemail is still pretty good at stopping many injuries, the rules do not reflect truly how protective this armor was. especially if we have guns running around, we can assume the full plate of the game is pretty advanced. Hence, in my games plate loses the 'weakpoints' quality and ignores all critical hits as long as the location is covered by plate. You're going to have to Hack the armor or whittle the platemail down. 

No Resilience/Resolve:

This was too fiddly, a pain to track, and made the already resilient PCs too resilient for my taste. Accordingly, all humans start with 4 Fate, Halflings 2, and Dwarves and Elves 1. If you're a kind and generous sort, you can let PCs make an Endurance roll -20 or something to resist being stunned, etc. Any talents that provide resilience/resolve or rely on them work as normal, and treat each PC has having the resolve needed for them.

Reduced outnumbering bonuses:

While outnumbering a foe is great, and only attackers receive a bonus to hitting skill, I don't think it's +40 easier to hit an outnumbered foe in hand-to-hand. I cap the outnumbering bonus at +20 (and may one day only grant for 3:1 outnumbering). I also count a mounted warrior as 2, requiring 4 footmen to outnumber (makes sense to me given the mount's moving through the men makes even harder to hit). 

Goal XP only:

No XP awards for merely playing the game and your PC not dying. Instead, you have to achieve things! I tried gold for xp, but this failed. I will give minor +10 to +25 in-game rewards for little stuff (fun roleplaying, a cool combat win, etc.). So:

+200 xp per minor goal or ambition achieved - this is your standard adventure, usually.

+500 xp per major goal or long-term ambition achieved - this is your long term plot points, ascension to knighthood, etc. 

This also encourages updating and following ambitions more, as that'll give you healthy bonus XP along the way. 

NPC and Creature Careers

This is not realyl a houserule as the game's rule creator, Andy Law, uses this method, but keep in mind the NPC and creature stats in the Bestiary are base racial scores. Thus, any experienced orcs or beastmen will have a couple career ranks under their belts. Even gobbos may have 1-2 ranks in stuff like Sentry or Soldier. To quickly come up with this stats: 1) take the base stats in the bestiary, 2) pick a few career ranks (eg sentry 1, or soldier 2), 3) add +5 per rank in that career to each attribute it applies to (soldier, 2 ranks: +10 WS, +10 BS, +10 T, +10 WP), and +5 per rank to each important skill - usually this means combat skills like Melee or Ranged, but Cool Endurance, Dodge, and the like would apply. Voila, a quick and easy way to generate fearsome foes!

Warhammer Fantasy Campaign: [Session Reports] Killing Agravaine

* blog note: I'm going to stop pretending I'm updating this blog at any set frequency, you will continue to see little bursts of activity and then nothing for three months.

The Crew

Onfroy - fencer and louche extraordinaire, with a fetish for female urine

Willem of Nye - death wizard, searcher of artifacts, seeking of Enochian and Elohim mysteries

Regis de Pubiens aka Don Gonada - spy and huckster, the voice of reason

Okra, a female ogre smith, good at smashing, always hungry

Twiggett Plumbottom, halfling thief

So after taking captive the Lord of the random castle they raided on the river Morceux (prounounced More-So cuz its wfrp 'tongue and cheek' humor), the PCs (really Onfroy and Regis) negotiated the exchange of the Lord's treasury and safe passage away as ransom. The knights were honorable and allowed the merry band on their way.

The party then made it to the outskirts of the dukedom's capital, Castle Aquitaine itself. The boat captain bid them adieu and the party approached the castle town.

Aquitaine

They first took service with one of Agravaine's banner lords, but quickly acted like idiots and tried to assault the main castle to gain entry rather than negotiating their way inside. They fled into the town proper, before hiding successfully in an alley. There two robed 'men' invited them to negotiate with the ratmen, as they turned out to be.

The skaven sorcerer promised to help them gain entry into Agravaine's inner keep if they would obtain his Nehekharan scrolls and any other magical items from the strange architect-engineer in Agravaine's employ. The group readily agreed.

The group was snuck through skaven tunnels to a point said to be beneath the keep. The skaven offered to blow open a hole, which again the group agreed to. The hole in the cellars of the keep brought several men-at-arms to investigate.

After the group mercilessly ambushed the initial guards, Onfroy made two kiss each other to prove their willingness to submit. He then killed them, laughing. The adventurers soon fought their way out of the cellars and into the keep's entryway, which had the large courtyard of the castle on the other side. There they were met with more skilled knights coming down from the keep. Between an ogre and the wizard Willem of nye, however, the knight guards stood little chance. 

Agravaine

But then Agravaine and his 'architect' appeared, the latter coming down the stairs of the keep and the former from the courtyard area. The architect, a strange necromancer in white tunic with a burnished wood rod, engaged in a spell duel with Willem of Nye. Around that same time, a mighty statue 18' tall pounded towards the keep, animated by some strange magics. The colossus stood ready to hammer anyone who emerged from the door, but did not attack the structure itself.  

Hidden and free from the melee in the keep entryway,  Twigget the halfling soon made short work of the necromancer with two well-placed sling bullets. The architect fell, and then was doused with a flask of lamp oil thrown by Regis de Pubiens. Meanwhile, Onfroy sought to slay Agravaine himself, but was driven back from the courtyard beyond the keep's door by a rain of arrows. Onfroy cracked the demonic sword that he had fished out of the river in Giseroux months before summoning a red, smoking-sword wielding demon who lurched forward to attack Agravaine.

The Colossus Statue

Then the adventurers inside fought the last remaining knights in the keep, avoiding the archers and colossus in the courtyard. Twigget and Regis both fired missiles at Agravaine, who attempted to push his way inside the keep before being stopped by the demon. Likewise, Onfroy threw his last petard with a deafening roar that filled the courtyard was smoke. The demon himself was quickly slain by Agravaine's archers, but not before Agravaine himself was brought low with several well-placed hits from the group. The colossus ceased his menacing movements. Twiggett quickly then dashed out, ripped off the amulet Agravaine wore, which the skaven sorcerer and Willem believed sustained his life unnaturally, and dashed back inside. Regis threw his last flask of burning oil on Agravaine's body, hoping that would ensure his demise. They then slammed shut the keep door, barred it, and went in to find anything of value from the necromancer's room, wherever that may be.

While his companions explored the keep, Willem of Nye brought comets and lightning from the heavens, disrupting and burning the knights and men-at-arms assembled in the castle courtyard trying to get back into the keep. Twiggett explored much of the keep, while Regis attempted futily to get past magically barred doors leading to the necromancer's workshop near his rooms on the fourth floor.

After killing a few scattered guards, the group finally accessed the necromancer's chambers, stole a stack of rolled-up scrolls and made their way back down to the cellar area. They then betrayed the ratmen by teleporting out the backside of the keep.

The adventurers then found themselves in a desperate struggle to escape the castle's outer walls. Archers laid low Willem several times and knights charged in, badly wounding by Okra and Regis. Finally, pushed up against the gatehouse wall, a last healing draught was poured down Willem's throat and he critically succeeded to teleport them away. The group ran for the the river, quickly throwing Twigget's rope down to rappel to the river.

Riverside, the ratmen streamed out of a hole in the keep's hillface as the adventurers swam for their lives across the river, tossing aside their heavier armor. They made it after some dicey swimming checks, and then smashed and killed the ratman sorcerer, the rat-ogre beast he rode, and a group of 30 or so skaven. Okra did most of the work with sweeping blows from her hammer, followed by several blasts from Willem's lightning-arcing fingers. 

At this point, everyone was very low on health, tired, and wounded (except Onfroy whose player sat out a session). They figured they were now in the Forest of Chalons, the legendary forest where the First King Gilles met the Lady of the Lake and received her blessing on the Isle de Lys. Onfroy proved a surprisingly good navigator as they walked through the forest at night, keeping the river as a landmark on their left. They then attempted to camp during the day, making a smokey fire with green wood.

Here, they were ambushed again after noontide. A band of mercenaries, Tilean, Estalian, and Imperial, approached the camp, but were spotted before ambushing everyone. In the chaotic scrum that followed, Willem (again) and Okra were laid low before the mercenaries themselves were overcome. Apparently, the new lord back in Aquitaine had hired them to kill Agravaine's killers. Alas for them, the group once again pulled it out by the skin of their teeth.

Finally, the battered group made its way to a small 'frontier' settlement of woodsmen and hunters, ruled by Lady Helvois and her husband. Regis sweet talked the residents into letting them inside, saying they were foes of Agravaine. Once inside, they found lodgings and favor with the lady lord, whose husband fought with Duke Alberic against Agravaine. That is where the adventures ended, as the adventurers lick their wounds, recuperate, and spend some well-earned money and experience.

Haul

50 GC from the keep of Duke Agravaine.

300 GC from the ransom of Lord Bartheleme, buried somewhere outside Aquitaine

The ducal crown of Aquitaine

Nehekharan amulet

2 wheellock pistols

1 Luccini long rifle wheelock

3 petards (bombs)

2 hand crossbows

1 crossbow

1 skaven staff (Staff of the Great Horned One)

1 jar of flies

1 light warhorse (a charger)

2 riding horses