Friday, September 16, 2011

Staying faithful

No, not like that... I'm looking at the frankly bonkers classes in Oriental Adventures (1E), and examining them compared to the classes adapted to Labyrinth Lord in Advanced Edition Companion. The requirements for the OA classes are steep, but the powers they get for the amount of xp they need to earn are really quite powerful. They fall into two broad groups: "Go batshit crazy once per day to wipe out everyone around you" or "dodge attacks like you're made of greased mercury". I'm falling down on the side of toning down their power level, even though that takes away from their baroque wonderfulness. It'll be worth it in the end.

And what is that end? Mike D has already released the awesome Ruins and Ronin; the more I read it, the more I appreciate its elegance and imagination. What I want to do is use my old OA material in Labyrinth Lord seamlessly. Whether I release it as a pdf eventually, I don't know. I'd need to bone up on the OGL and wotnot.

Would I adapt Kara-Tur or have any setting at all? I think I'd leave it setting-less, bar some broad strokes, such as the Spirit World, and the Celestial Bureaucracy.

3 comments:

  1. Some kind of setting is indicated just because the atmosphere and themes are fairly directed, but you're probably right that it need not be too specific.

    I've never met a DM yet who didn't tamper, but it is nice to have something to tamper *with*.

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  2. I see I'd have been a lot more up to speed on what your ultimate intentions were if I'd gotten around to reading all of the old posts in your blog sooner.

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  3. I've been thinking a lot more about it, and there are several different directions that it could go in, depending on objectives and rules-set.

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