Terra PbP [Ad&D 1e/2e] recruitment, interest, discussion, etc.

[khyron1144]

Anybody want to play?

The thing nobody else seems to be doing right now is vaguely Tolkien-ian vanilla fantasy using the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules with bits borrowed from 1e and even BECMI as needed.

My vague idea for a starting point of plot involves wilderness exploration and a short cave/dungeon crawl in the Emerald Hills region of the Terran Empire.


Character Creation:
Method 1 (the quick way):
Go to the Rogue's Gallery thread and pick a character with a [ooc]Pre-gen[/ooc] tag, and I tell you how much work is needed to make that character ready for actual play.  Some are nearly complete.  Some need much more work.

Method 2 (the longer way):
Step 1:
Roll 4D6 drop the lowest and add the remaining three dice.
Do this seven times.  Assign the resulting numbers to the seven Attributes:  Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Comeliness; in any order you like, although the necessary minimums and maximums to qualify for the Race and Class you desire should be kept in mind.
Oh, and out of each 4D6 set a single die that comes up a 1, may be re-rolled and counted as at least a 2 or whatever number comes up on the re-roll.  
For instance:
Example 1) I roll 1, 1, 6, 6.  I can re-roll one of those 1s.  It still comes up a 1 on the re-roll, I mark it down as a 2 and take a 14.
Example 2) I roll 6, 6, 5, 1.  I re-roll the 1.  It comes up a 6.  Congratulations, me, I just got an 18.

Step 2:
Pick a Race.  All the PHB standards, including Half-Orcs, are allowed.  Also The Complete Book of Humanoids, the three Giant-kin races from Giantcraft, the new races in the Spacefarer's Handbook, and some of the sub-races from the complete handbooks for Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes (here's where I actually set some limits: no Kender, no Gully Dwarves, no Sea Elves, no Tinker Gnomes).  Half-Ogres are allowed, the version presented in The Complete Book of Humanoids and the one in "The Whole Half-Ogre" article (Dragon Issue #73, reprinted in The Best of Dragon Vol. IV are both allowed.  Korobokuru from Oriental Adventures are allowed.  As, I mentioned before, the Ravenloft Demi-plane sometimes intersects with Terra, via the Temporal/Spatial Palace, so Half-Vistani from the Domains of Dread book are allowed.

I remembered one other thing:  If you are using The Complete Book of Elves, High Elves and Grey Elves both exist but the names are switched around from what they are in the book.  High Elves are the ones with an Intelligence bonus and a snooty attitude.  Grey Elves get on better with humans.

Step 3:
Pick a class.  PHB plus a lot of options.  The 2e PHB is kind of the baseline, but Assassins and Monks as per 1e are allowed; the only type of Bard, though is the 2e single class Bard rather than that weird 1e has to switch classes three times Bard.  Oriental Adventures material is allowed and Monks are subject to the OA revisions.  The new classes from Player's Option: Spells & Magic are allowed.  Some of the Specialty Priests from Legends & Lore are allowed (the Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian chapters).  Most of the classes that were reprinted in  The Best of Dragon Vol. IV are allowed, but I think only the Jester and Duelist classes are likely to be good for long-term play. Unearthed Arcana Barbarians, Cavaliers, and Thief-Acrobats are allowed.  Arcanists, Avengers, and Gypsies from  Domains of Dread are allowed.

Some of the traditional race & class combination rules are in place but relaxed slightly.  Any race may take the Assassin or Thief class with unlimited advancement potential.  

Dwarves can be Specialty Priests of any Norse Pantheon Deity from Legends & Lore plus the traditional Dwarven Deities, like Moradin, using the class write-ups from Demihuman Deities.  Dwarves can also be Runecasters (from the Giantcraft book), Diviners with the Rhabdomancer Kit (Dragon Issue #229, and Earth Elementalists (Tome of Magic, Player's Option: Spells & Magic).

Gnomes can be Specialty Priests of any Gnomish deity, like Garl Glittergold, using the class write-ups from Demihuman Deities.  In addition to the Illusionist and Artificer classes, gnomes also have access to Diviners with the Rhabdomancer Kit (Dragon Issue #229, and Earth Elementalists (Tome of Magic, Player's Option: Spells & Magic).

High Elves can be Fire Elementalists or Air Elementalists (Tome of Magic, Player's Option: Spells & Magic).
Grey and Wood Elves can be Water or Air Elementalists (Tome of Magic, Player's Option: Spells & Magic).
Svartaelfar (Drow) can be Arcanists, Necromancers, and Shadow Wizards.

Classes from the Oriental Adventures book can be taken by Halflings and Humans, Gnomes, and Korobokuru from the Halfling Khanate.  Specialty Priest Classes from the Chinese, Indian, and Japanese chapters of Legends & Lore are available to Khanate characters.

Step 4:
Level you character as appropriate:  Primary spell-casters, all Wizard and Priest subclasses, and strong secondary spell-casters (Bards and Jesters, ) start with 60,001 experience points.  Other character classes such as Cavalier and Fighter/Warrior subclasses, non-spellcasting Rogues (like Thieves, Assassins, and Yakuza), and Monks start with 140,001 experience points.  

I'll tell you what you start with for magical equipment.

You have starting gold for mundane equipment equal to standard random starting gold for your class plus a D6*10 of Gold Pieces for every level past first.

Both the weapon and non-weapon proficiency systems are used.

Kits are allowed for some classes.  Specialty Priests, Assassins, Barbarians, Cavaliers, Jesters, Duelists, and Thief-Acrobats are already specialized enough to not need a Kit to further define themselves.