Saturday 19 July 2014

For the love of d12!




Reading about dice decay ho hum here after seeing G+ or something
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/dice-can-dramatically-decompose.html

I Read story of the d12...

"Nebelwerfer41
November 6, 2013 at 10:13 PM
To follow up on your post, I listened to Dave Arneson talk at Gen Con a few years back just before he passed away. He mentioned that they had to buy the dice from Creative Publications in full sets, but they didn't have rules that used the d12. So, they made up a few rules in an effort to make the purchasers of the game feel that they got their money's worth (and not have an orphaned d12).

I'll always remember that intimate Q&A session because it was in a medium sized room at a hotel with only about 20 people in attendance. I felt he deserved to have more people in the audience".

So basically the d12 was a after thought. I always liked the plucky polygons. BX DnD has a few good uses like turning table. Very handy for hexadecimal games because it can generate a 1-12 instead of 2-12. I sometimes do d12xd12 tables for when d100 is not enough. I seem to do this more with wilderness and terrain stuff.

I always use d12 for....

Many of descriptive tables to decorate areas outdoors or inside like my citadel tables

Some of these in play possibly why d12's being grabbed upsets players in my games

Here I use d12 for My horrible alignment system or quick wizard schools

Encounters I always like d12 cos i like more things than a d10. I have d12 for threats encountered and use D12 to check encounters every 10 minute turn in my game as standard. Or 2inD12 for dungeon at alert and 3inD12 if intruder alert! I decided recently to ad a near miss by up to 3 equals evidence of a recent inhabitant being being present instead of an encounter. Gives chances to hunt, stalk or ambush a encounter instead of being so passive as in many dungeons. Possibly a skill roll might be needed to notice. CSI Dungeon scene fan novels not far behind except heroes find monsters and their habits then gruesomely slaughter them.

d12 Clues left by inhabitants
1 Left a fresh kill or warm meal ready to consume and popped out for a moment
2 Left food scraps like bones, dribble, skin, etc
3 Left a light source such as a candle stub or lamp or torch from monster surface
4 Left blood from wound and sighs of first aid like bandages
5 Fur, bristles, scabs, shaving scum other crap possibly diseased or with parasites
6 Leaves a stink the alert might detect as fresh
7 Monster poop or pee, fresh and steaming and stinky possibly diseased or with parasites
8 Dead dungeon vermin like rat or bat or bug possibly diseased or with parasites
9 Dead dungeon inhabitant possibly diseased or with parasites
10 Dead dungeon intruder defiled and robbed and dumped
11 Vomit, snot, weeping pustule, coughed up crap or drool possibly diseased
12 Lefts a trail of footprints stronger than normal from extra filth

Directions
for misses with grenaides or random directions. It' easy to say coming at you from 9 o'clock than use degrees for most people. Good for getting lost and works well on maps. Can use for near misses as slightly off by one to three "hours" and more severe lost could be random bounce.

Months of year If I need a random season or a future date for a quest i use to make a deadline.
times of day or night.

Hours of the day or night you know like on a clock again if you need a random hour.

weather i keep this pretty simple but im thinking of making seasons a new enemy in my game. Also how it effects dungeon ecology. Mostly i roll weekly but will happily roll when uncover a crypt or kill someone important of a fight breaks out or just need to set mood on scene. Weather more interesting as mood and reflective of mood of protagonists or gods than being too scientific. All written from land perspective so I expect a sea version needed one day.

d12 Spring
1 Wonderful day nature full of joy
2 Wonderful day animals in love
3 Wonderful day new baby animals
4 Pleasant warm cloudless breezy
5 Pleasant cloud
6 Pleasant and breezy, animal all running about crazy and frisky
7 Breezy sunny day
8 Breezy cloudy day
9 Fast moving grey clouds
10 Sun showers briefly from nowhere
11 Intermittent rain and strong wind
12 Dangerous electrical storm with gale winds and rain

d12 Summer
1 Glorious sunny warm cloudless
2 Searingly hot day cloudless and still
3 Unpleasantly warm cloudless, quiet and still
4 Pleasant sunny day with light breeze
5 Humid warm muggy
6 Cloudy and windy and warm
7 Balmy warm windy good for sports
8 Humid constantly drizzling and swarming with mosquitoes
9 Flash flood followed by disease and vermin
10 Dust clouds, flies and sweltering heat
11 Smokey volcanic smoke and gas waft over land
12 Violent summer storm, dry wind starts fires

d12 Autumn
1 Grey still skies, dark and gloomy
2 Fog over area morning and evening
3 Sun seems cold and puny
4 Dark clouds and windy
5 Air still, warm and smell of decay everywhere
6 Rains frequently, sky grey
7 Light snowy fluff followed by slushy rain for hours
8 Hailstorm and hard weather
9 Dry cold and frosty, ground hard and slippery
10 Cold wind gives everyone the chills
11 Stormy with lightning and rain
12 Fierce winds and spectacular gales, things fall from sky

d12 Winter
1 Sky is grey and cold with light breeze
2 Chilly light breeze, occasional light snow or drizzle
3 Dark and windy everything wants to hide
4 Cold, drizzly all day long
5 Black clouds, winds occasional short cold rain bursts
6 Very cold but still and quiet, animals by noon moving about excitedly
7 Light snow a d4 inches every so often, white sky
8 Medeum snow dumped, everything covered in an hour
9 Whiteout and extreme wind and snow, sleet and slush everywhere
10 Fierce cold and snow, dark
11 Cold, dark but still with auroras in the sky
12 Horrifying cold, wind and snow and darkness

3 comments:

  1. That's interesting that the d12 was left out of the initial drafts. I like the d12 too. There's an 0e game floating around out there that you can get for free that's all 1-12 based.

    I can't remember the name. But it's a fine system mehanically.

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  2. I use the d12 for initiative.d6 or d10 are just too small a spread.

    From one to a dozen also harkens back to a time when civilization and thought was not yet decimalized.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Babylonian maths like 360 degrees, weaighr and measurements are very good for gaming and more consistant than even medieval britain - Queen Elizebeth 1t got sick of scottish miles, welsh miles london miles, english miles

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