Monday 29 August 2022

"UA Character Options" Browse & BBQ

The D&D team have just launched the big media assault pushing the upcoming 50 year anniversary new revision of the ruleset that they're calling One D&D, and a big part of their first step was to release some Unearthed Arcana showing the direction they're interested in going. There's also a lot about their digital tools, and there's a lot to say about that, but we're just looking at the UA pdf playtest rulekit here.

The Character Options UA is a solid document, and far better than I was expecting. It effectively covers a whole bunch of fundamental game rules and principles that can be overhauled. Here are the dot points:

  • Attribute bonuses have moved over to Backgrounds
  • It still uses the term "Race"
  • The Races included are all those in the PHB plus a few new ones and the half-breeds have been redesigned. They also don't give Attribute bonuses any more
  • Backgrounds DO give Attribute bonuses and are far more important to character building than ever before (YES!)
  • A few Feats have been given the old once-over
  • Spells can now be of Primal origin rather than Arcane or Divine
  • DMs don't get critical hits any more
  • 1s always fail
  • 20s always succeed and also grant Inspiration
  • A bunch of other rules have been tweaked and some of them could be reeeeeal interesting
Because it's still in development it seems a bit premature to properly review the changes, but I can certainly assess whether I'm likely to include the changes in my home games. Lets break 'em down. 

Races
Contrary to what I expected, all Players Handbook races are included, though there's a twist with the "half-breeds". If you want to play a character of mixed heritage you now just pick one side of the family for game stats and throw in some cosmetic fluff from the other. I wouldn't be surprised if this gets some feedback, because I'm sure people are going to want to swap racial traits in and out.

That means the half-elf is gone, but it also means that orc is now on the standard menu, and it's pretty much what we saw in Mordenkainen's Multiverse of Monsters. The big shiny distraction is the inclusion of the ardling race, which is like a beast-headed variant on the aasimar.

As mentioned above, the big difference is that Attribute bonuses have been thrown into Backgrounds, but your race still gives you some racial abilities. Some of them are obvious, such as Dragonborn who still have their breath weapons and damage resistance (and now get darkvision), or halflings, who still get their various tricksiness. Elves are pretty much as expected with the change that each breed of elf gets a different suite of spells as they go up levels, and tieflings now have a similar approach with Abyssal and Cthonic heritages now available. Dwarves now get Tremorsense, which is a really nice idea and I dig it a lot. The items that rock gnomes can make have now been declared to be bound to effects limited by the Prestidigitation spell, which I like but it makes me wonder if they'll do some proper overhauling of the spell system.

But, as always, I want to know what they're doing with humans, because that's where the real action tends to take place. 

I'm glad to say it isn't bad. Humans get to grab a skill and a Feat of their choice, which is completely unsurprising, and also the ability to get Inspiration for finishing a Long Rest. That last sounds pretty solid, especially considering that you now lose Inspiration at the start of a Long Rest, but it means we'll have to learn more about what the rules for Inspiration are gonna be like... but that'll have to wait to come up.

Will I use it: I'll certainly give it a go. There are no immediate red flags, and I can't say ardlings inspire me in any great way, but some of the changes are quite intriguing. However, including these Race changes depends on the Backgrounds changes as they seem to go hand in hand, so it all rests on our next section... 

Backgrounds
One of my favourite inclusions in 5e was the introduction of Backgrounds and I've long thought more attention should be given to them, so I'm very pleased to see that the team has finally agreed with me. Backgrounds are now incredibly important and seem to be one of the most customisable aspects of character creation.

All Backgrounds are now cut from the same cloth. The default is to build your own, but pre-made templates are offered which can further be tweaked using the same rules for building them. A Background grants you:
  • +2 to one Attribute and +1 to another (as mentioned earlier, this has been shunted over from Races)
  • Proficiency in two skills
  • Proficiency in a tool
  • Proficiency in a language
  • A Feat
  • 50gp to spend on equipment
The prepackaged Background templates are the same as was in the PHB but with a few new faces and some changed names. Acolyte, Charlatan, Criminal, Entertainer, Gladiator, Sage, Sailor, Soldier, Hermit, Noble, and Urchin are familiar, though some that greatly relied on their Features have had to make do with Feats that don't really seem to cover the old territory (such as Charlatans losing their fake identity and getting the Skilled Feat).

Folk Hero is gone and replaced with Farmer and Laborer, which are pretty much the "commoner" archetypes that Folk Hero was always going for. Artisan has replaced Guild Artisan. Outlander has gone, but Guide and Pilgrim offer two interesting takes on the same premise. Guard offers a henchman/watchman angle on the Soldier, while Cultist is a very interesting variant on Acolyte.

Will I use it: On the whole I like this a lot. Replacing the old Features with a Feat is a mixed blessing as some of the old Features were weird and unbalanced, but some of them did have some interesting character to them. I'd like to see the tools and languages interchangeable, so you could ditch tools for two languages or vice versa. But these are minor quibbles. I'll move to this in an instant.

Languages and Feats
The Language selection is slightly overhauled, with notable inclusions being Common Sign Language and Primordial now covering all the elemental languages (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran).

Only a few Feats are included, and they have some solid errata. Lucky now gives you a number of Luck Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus, which is a standard yardstick used for a lot of batteries moving forward it seems. Savage Attacker has been reworded and Tavern Brawler seems a bit more fun. Healer is a lot more useful and can let you reroll 1s on a healing spell die. Crafter and Musician not only grant Tool Proficiencies but also other little boosts.

Will I use it: Sure, whatever. They're small changes and basically errata.

Miscellany
There are a whole bunch of other rules of interest that have been tweaked and modified.

D20 Test: A catch-all term for the core of the game, which covers the three main rolls (ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws). If a rule affects d20 tests it can be assumed to affect all three of the main rolls. Importantly, a 1 on a d20 check now always fails and conversely a 20 always succeeds. Additionally, a 20 also grants Inspiration.
Will I use it: Absolutely. These rules are basically in my games already.

Critical Hits: One of the more unpopular rule changes, critical hits now only affect weapons and unarmed strikes from PCs. Spells and incidental damage (such as creating an avalanche to crush your foes) are no longer covered, and DMs now don't get them at all. I think this will get a lot of feedback and will probably be changed before publication.
Will I use it: Probably not. I kinda like that it gives martial characters an edge, but there's something about the craziness of crits that can veer a game off into great directions and limiting that wildness is counterintuitive to me. But I'd like to look more into the philosophy behind why they've chosen to do this, and I'm open to the idea that I could be swayed.

Spell Lists: There are now three branches of magic; Arcane, Divine, and Primal. Primal covers the spells cast by Druids and Rangers, though I imagine the Barbarian Totem Warrior might have their spells fall into this category as well. I'm not surprised by this inclusion, as it has been seen in previous editions (notably 4th).
Will I use it: Until further rules changes are introduced this is a moot point. I'm not against it in principle.

Conditions: Incapacitated now specifies that concentration is broken, the character can't speak, and they get disadvantage on initiative rolls. Grappled now specifies how the condition can be broken, grants disadvantage to attacks against anyone other than the grappler, and the grappler can now move the character they've got hold of but suffer the Slowed condition. Slowed is brand new which effectively halves your movement, gives attackers Advantage against you, and gives you Disadvantage on Dex saves.
Will I use it: Absolutely.

Tool Proficiency: The big takeaway is that your Tool and Skill Proficiencies stack, meaning a first level Rogue could potentially get +8 on a roll from their Expertise specialties alone before even looking at Attributes. All Artisan's Tools now cost 15gp and Musical Instruments all cost 20gp.
Will I use it: I'm prepared to give this a whirl, but will be watching to see if it gets exploited.

Resting: Long Rests specify needing at least six hours of sleep during the eight hour window to get the benefit. An interrupted Long Rest can still potentially grant the benefits of a Short Rest.
Will I use it: Simple errata. It's fine.

Tremorsense: A natural ability for dwarves, this feature lets you detect creatures and moving objects that are on the same surface as you. Very interesting. I like it.
Will I use it: Yep. Seems like it could be a load of fun.

Inspiration: A few changes here. For one thing, you lose Inspiration at the start of a Long Rest, though Humans gain one at the end of a Long Rest and a few other methods exist for doing the same (such as the Musician Feat). A 20 on any d20 Test now also rewards Inspiration (as noted above). Though you can still only bank one at a time (boo!) if you gain Inspiration while you already have it you may now pass it off to the others in your team.
Will I use it: Passing Inspiration around is something I've played with for a while, but honestly I think a lot more work needs to be done with Inspiration entirely. The whole Inspiration system barely scrapes the bare minimum of what could be done with this mechanism, and tying it to Bonds, Ideals, and Weaknesses is an obvious first step. I'll continue to develop my own far more interesting Inspiration systems.

Monday 15 August 2022

Eldritch: The Book of Madness (review)

Hmm... I wonder if the whole "dark fantasy" tag has become a bit... basic. It seems that it has become the go-to genre for anybody wanting their fantasy roleplaying to be a bit more nuanced. After the initial child-like phase of playing D&D for fun and laughs, it's quite common for players to ditch the power trips, fart jokes, and escapism for something a bit more emotive and stylised as they step into their angst-ridden rebellious teen phase.

The trend has been around long enough to have a whole catalogue of dark fantasy rpg games and settings out there. In-house, the Ravenloft setting has been D&D's flagship dark-fantasy for decades (arguably more horror than dark fantasy), though Dark Sun and Fantasy Flight's Midnight setting have also had great popularity. Outside of the ever-looming market leader, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay always prided itself on being pretty dark. Stormbringer had the advantage of drawing on the peerless Mr. Michael Moorcock's iconic Elric novels (which formed the template for dark fantasy as a genre). The '90s had a shadow cast over the entire rpg landscape as the industry seemed to suddenly get engulfed in gloom (this period saw the "World of Darkness" games dominate the market, after all, but let's stick to the dedicated fantasy games.)

Right now, indie darling Mork Borg is the dark fantasy that all the cool kids are into, and its satanic metal art makes a bold claim to the top of the pile in a much more convincing manner than some other games. Gemini called itself "the dark fantasy roleplaying game" and though the setting was exceptional I'm not sure if it earned the right to be THE game of that genre. Evernight was the first setting released for Pinnacle's Savage Worlds system and its tag of "The Darkest Fantasy" is an embarrassing display of braggadocio. I was intrigued by the claim of The Dark Peaks as a "pitch black" setting, but the last I read of the game it was still in development and I thus can't judge it. Blades in the Dark is right up there, but I'd argue it's more of a crime story or heist drama.

But today our dark fantasy rpg setting is a preview for Eldritch: The Book of Madness for D&D 5th ed by Stewie Black. As a dark fantasy it clearly has a lot of work ahead of it if it wants to stand out, especially as the last "book of madness" I read was the wonderful sourcebook of that name for Mage: the Ascension (man, I still need to get another copy of that...)


Note: My pdf preview copy is not a complete document. This review may contain obsolete opinions and information once the final copy is released.

Beyond the Black Mirror

Eldritch: The Book of Madness opens on an epic scale, positing an alternative cosmology to the 5th edition canon where an ancient and alien dimension outside of reality insidiously intrudes into the multiverse as we know it. This "Realm beyond the Dark Mirror," called the Kra-Xalar, is a primordial shadow universe filled with sadistic powers and creatures who delight in bringing suffering to mortals. The evil powers here are not just driven to destroy and corrupt; they actively revel in it, taking perverse glee in their atrocities.

It is stressed that the entities of the shadow are not just evil but worse than that, the choice term being "profane," and this term is one of the two keywords essential to the book (the other being "dread.") It evokes the concept that the Kra-Xalar and its inhabitants are aberrant outsiders to the natural order. Dread takes it a step further, being the influence the shadow has on a mortal and the power it has over it, allowing profane monsters to engage special abilities fueled by a victim's exposure to the darkness' malign touch.

With such horrific themes, the author takes pains to give fair warning at the start regarding content and mentions that real world mental health should be treated with respect, but I appreciate that this section isn't laboured or authoritative (though some might appreciate a link to some safety tools; the current trend is to err on the side of caution.) From there we get into an overview of the setting; systems regarding Dread, madness, and addiction; sections regarding antagonists, including a selection of monsters and their associated stat blocks; a slew of profane spells, and finally a look at the setting for the campaign taking place in a unrelentingly bleak and inhospitable world built on the near-dead corpse of an ancient titan. A glossary is also thankfully included to help with the plethora of names and terms introduced through the book.

Production values on the whole are great. The writing might be a little on the florid side at times, but rarely strays into amateurishness and is engaging and entertaining. Artwork is good and graphic design and layout is clean and easy on the eye. Game system information follows the established template of 5e, including some of the most recent updates to it (such as giving monster stat blocks a proficiency bonus.) As an unofficial 5e supplement this is really quite good and better than most, and though this review is of the pdf only I am confident that the printed copy will show similarly respectable quality.


The Profane

At times the profane shadow seems Lovecraftian in tone, completely alien and mind-bogglingly vast, but in practice it is nothing like it. Rather than be aloof and uncaring it is intimately concerned with mortals, much like the devils of D&D's lower planes. However we are also informed that the dark powers are nothing like the fiends we are familiar with, but are somehow worse.

This concept of "like the bad stuff you know, but worse" permeates the book. The two great dark powers (a Lord of Pain and a Lord of Madness) seem awful similar to their fiendish counterparts, but we are assured they are more terrible. The "bound-dead" are just like undead but with more abilities and the method of their creation involves ensuring the living mind of the victim is constantly tortured. A new condition, Terrified, is just like Frightened but can affect creatures immune to fear. The new profane damage type is kind of like necrotic, I guess, but since nothing specifies that it is immune to profane damage it can hurt anything.

Some of the monsters certainly follow this trope. Dread ghouls and grogres might have some interesting abilities, but they just feel like regular ghouls and ogres given a profane polish. The fell shade is likewise the profane hellhound or blink dog, and the kariad dragon is immensely cool but feels a bit too similar to a purple worm or sandworm of Arrakis (though the fact that it can turn to mist and teleport makes it a terrifying threat.) There's something that's too familiar about these antagonists, and they certainly don't come across as a unique form of malevolence.

There are indeed some great antagonists in the book, my personal favourite being the brokiiri doll. This fabric monstrosity not only makes an ally of a soon-to-be-damned child and creeps off to commit murders but also has the cleric-dampening power of being able to soak up Turn Undead attempts onto itself, screaming off into the dark instead of the intended target. It's a nasty play, but if used correctly can be a great dramatic moment mixed with some black humour.

But on the whole I'd like to see the profane powers be more unknowable and pernicious than presented. (Edit: this perspective is present in upcoming material.)  The very fact that the book encourages a slow burn but simultaneously hits the reader from the outset with the grand cosmic scale shows a missed opportunity to reflect the themes Eldritch is seeking to present. Probably the best way to do so is offered in the section regarding cults, showing how the dark powers subtly exert their influence into the mortal world. 


Dread and Madness

Undoubtedly the most interesting mechanism in Eldritch is Dread.

As characters continue to deal with the profane they gain Dread points. Casting profane spells, encountering powerful profane beasties, and witnessing profane scenes will all contribute to a character's pool of Dread (sort of similar to getting Cthulhu Mythos knowledge.) Thereafter, profane creatures can use this pool against the characters, spending a target's Dread to fuel special powers and abilities, making Dread a powderkeg of danger in any profane conflict.

It's a fun idea, and it also means characters will be cautious about stepping into an encounter with a profane enemy when rocking a high Dread pool. And that pool is likely to be high indeed, as it refills daily unless you are doing something to remove it such as destroying profane monsters or cashing it in for madness.

Ah, yes. Madness. Mental illness is a very tricky subject and a lot of rpgs have had trouble dealing with it appropriately, but Eldritch sidesteps a lot of it by making the afflictions presented less mental illness than an actual outside force that has burrowed into the character and is twisting them. At least it seems that way. There's certainly a paragraph stating that it's a mortal's mind breaking due to its inability to comprehend the magnitude of the horrors assailing them, so the Lovecraft parallels come in yet again. But all of the madnesses listed have their own unique fantasy names (there are soooo many fabricated terms in this book!) so at least an attempt has been made to avoid stigmatization.

Two other methods of gaining Dread are of particular note. The first is the spell list, which is always a popular section for players getting hold of a new sourcebook. Dozens of new spells are on offer, but they come with the terrible price of the possibility of gaining Dread (at midnight a save must be made with the difficulty increasing the more profane spells you cast that day.) This is yet again familiar territory for those who have played games involving Lovecraftian horrors or other forbidden magic, but it's not something we've seen much of in 5e and I really like it. There's a great deal of satisfying narrative weight in a game when your own poor choices come back to haunt you later; that's the essence of classical tragedy.

Less satisfying is gaining Dread through addiction. A selection of addictive substances are detailed, and their descriptions are quite interesting and offer great story hooks, but though their drawbacks and Dread increases are clear there is no benefit (temporary or otherwise) for indulging in them. I think this is a great shame, as the temptation to indulge is lost as is the eventual payoff for cursing your own decisions in the past. With the spells we get the wonderful moment where our choice to obtain temporary gain leads to damnation; the drugs, drinks, and possessions of the Addictions chapter offer no such poignant opportunities. (Edit: The Addictions chapter is undergoing a revision with a lot more material being added. Yay!)

The Wastes are an intriguing setting for the game built on the dead or near-dead body of a titanic light-aligned entity that was destroyed by the profane powers. A whole campaign is offered where the PCs are attempting to rescue its power, which has taken the form of birds.

Dark Tidings

Having read through it now, what Eldritch offers is a D&D campaign with a distinct vision. It isn't an addition to a regular campaign, but a campaign in its own right. Taking one or two creatures or spells from Eldritch and plugging them into your Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance campaign might be interesting, but it isn't really what this sourcebook is meant to be about. What this is really about is offering a particular focus for your campaign. Playing a game with this sourcebook is about delving into the particular malignant nastiness it has to offer. And it has a particular tone to it, one which is somewhat reminiscent of an undead or fiend campaign, but has its own unique twist.

The Dread mechanic is the heart of this book, and it would need to take a central place in any campaign using it. And I do like it a lot. I certainly like it a lot more than the bare-bones sanity mechanism offered in 5e's Dungeon Master's Guide or the equally uninspired "Horror Toolkit" in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. In this regard, Mr Black is doing a far better job of giving us decent tools for telling this kind of story than the official 5e team are doing.

But I came into this looking at it as a "dark fantasy rpg" and the question I have to ask is if it stands out from the pack. It certainly has a good old crack at it. There's no denying this is trying hard to maintain a true course and I think Stewie Black is making a good faith attempt at exploring some legitimately interesting terrain. D&D as a system isn't really the greatest fit for dark fantasy, I'd argue, and the game often impedes the ability to explore storylines of brutality, failure, and loss. But none of that is Black's fault, and he has made a great effort to work within 5e's limitations to offer a dark game.

And I want to make it clear that I mean it as no small compliment that he hasn't failed. I can be a harsh critic, and there's things to criticise, but I'm inclined to look to the positive qualities here. I don't think that Eldritch is revolutionary or a masterwork, but it would have been very easy to screw up. After all, so many others have failed before. But I like Eldritch, and I think there's something quite good here. It's not my preferred kind of dark fantasy, and there's a great deal I would have done very differently, but if I was playing in this game I would sink my teeth into it.

It's certainly better than a lot of others I have read, some of them official D&D products.

The Eldritch: The Book of Madness campaign is going live on August 30.

Concept: 3 (Good)

System: 3 (Good)

Execution: 3.5 (Better than Good) 

Verdict: 3 (Good)