Castles & Towers - Fantasy Adventure in the Wilderness and the Underground by DJB OLD SCHOOL ROLE-PLAYING GAME CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND You can contact the author at his personal blogpost. The LATEX rpg-module class is Copyright ©2016 Michael Davis and is distributed under the terms of the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL) Version 1.3c, while the OSR logo is by Stuart Robertson under Creative Commons 3.0 Unported Attribution License. The title image is an unknown source. Some parts of this ruleset book are Copyright ©2000–2003 Wizards of the Coast and are distributed under the Open Game License Version 1.0A. This product is compatible with the OSR. 2 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND Castles & Towers - can: watching every video on Youtube, reading every fo- Fantasy Adventure in the Wilderness and rum or Blogpost I could find after many hours on the sub- ject, and so on. Everything has been made possible only the Underground because of so many Blogposts, other games, retroclones, books, and /tg anon’s work. This is not an individual work. In terms of official work, the main influence have been the Preface work of Gary Gygax, Jeff Perren and Dave Arneson, both official and unofficial, supplement and splatbooks alike. This book is an attempt to write a TTRPG Retroclone of the Additionally, I used in various ways (and would like to world’s first and most famous Role-Playing Game with its pre- thank): cursor in Wargaming. In other words, an oldschool RPG that uses only d6s and offer multiple combat system to suit the Referee and the player’s intent in resolving their conflict. • Aldarron (and Coffee, Finarvyn, Radagast the Brown, What it is not however, is a 1:1 port of both of those: the Rabbit, Stormcrow, the Grey Elf and others) for their goal is not to include the totality of the Wargaming precur- work on pre-role-playing game combat adapted to sor, as it is too detailed for the current work aim. Both orig- role-playing games; inal works need clarification to be played, especially when put together, and some aspect of the Wargaming portion are too lengthy for the need of a role-playing game. I tried to keep the tone (OSR), the tendencies of odds (how dis- • The Grey Elf for his blog and various work on OD& D and tribution is made) and the possibilities/options (for example, Chainmail subsystems or specific mechanics such as parrying in a duel) over a strict reproduction in order to conserve the integrity of the work and a simplified overall system. Notably, most terms • Philotomy’s (Jason Cone) Musing; name have been changed for easy of reading purposes or copyright purposes. Overall, I hope that some people can find a new love for the original RPG and integrate all of this • Jason Vey’s Forbidden Lore; into their game. As always, first try to understand and play the rules before breaking them ! • Jon’s D& D Blog for his Youtube videos; How to Use This Book As Gygax himself says in the introduction to one of his work, • Delta’s various works on the original game, including his because fantasy adventuring possess too many variables, Book of War and Book of Spells; rules here are a framework to guide and help, at best pro- vide something that’s efficient. But it will never be perfect or even complete: it is up to individual Referee to supplement • Simulacrum’s author; it with their own imagination and alter the existing rules ac- cordingly. This book is to be used as a standalone as it reproduces all the rules necessary to play adventure fantasy. Key concepts • The Alexandrian; that have a section, subsection or formal definition some- where int he book will be bold-faced. Important notice will be italicized. • krusader74’s Goliath and Grognard; Text in box will generally be an example of play for the • Reddit’s user ’scavenger22’ for his number calculations; rules explained. In terms of equipment, you’ll need about 10 to 15 d6s, graph • The whole OD& D74 forum and their various contribu- papers, home made character sheets, pencils and a good tors; deal of time and imagination. It is possible to use miniature for combat, in which case you’ll need a 4’ by 6’ (or more, if available) table with appropriate miniature terrain, measur- • 4chan’s /tg/osrg ing tools and 25mm-30mm scale miniatures. They are gener- ally used because of their aesthetic value in the game. • Reddit’s /osr; Acknowledgments First, I’d like to thank the creator of this inspired LaTeX tem- • Friends and wife for playtesting; and plate for the document itself: Michael Davis. This project is the culmination of a lot of enquiry, research and gaming the original Fantasy Role-Playing game. I have • Many others that I took from over the year but can’t worked on this with good faith, trying to learn as much as I remember or credit them appropriately. 3 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND For players, this means, as it was aptly put by Michael Mornard: • You must be self-motivating: You explore and you deal with the world on your own. The Referee is there to cre- ate and run that fiction world. • You are a team: It is not about how powerful you can individually be or how much you shine. It’s about what you can bring to the group to make it succeed. • You have to be proactive: It’s important to keep mov- ing, to share information, to make decisions, even to have a Caller if need be. • Combat is dangerous: It’s not about the fight but about the outcome. If you can "cheat" a fight by exploiting weakness or tactical opportunities, do it. If you can get out of a fight, do it. • Describe, don’t roll: If a dice roll is needed, the Referee will know and ask for it. Otherwise, you describe what your character is doing in the fictional world. • Reaction and morale: Not all creatures are hostile, and not all creature will fight to the death. • Those who run away will live to fight another day. Gameplay Loop The basic gameplay loop of this RPG is both inside and out- side the world: characters delve deep into dungeons to What is an RPG? acquire loot for their own benefits in a world created by the Referee. This in turn will give opportunity for the play- A "RPG" is a Role-Playing Game. You play a fantasy ad- ers to have more powerful characters and equipment to venture game, derived heavily from wargaming, where you go back deeper. Then, they can try to participate side- control a (or many) character(s) in a breathing and living objectives, such as carving a name for themselves by cre- world. ating a stronghold and a domain, or accomplish any task It is a role: you play a part within a group to solve chal- that they set to themselves. It is first and foremost exploration lenges, and you play a role up to a certain extent in order driven. to have fun with your friends. Some will "act" their character and that is fine too. But in general, there are four main pillars 1. PLAYERS to this type of game: The normal pattern will be that players will prepare a wilder- 1. Exploration: Explore the world, its content and its lore. ness exploration to get to a dungeon, travel to the dungeon, Nothing happens in the safety of the cities. It only serves explore the dungeon and face its dangers and challenges, as a resting place between adventures. Treasures and then try to come back alive with as much treasures as they riches are deep underground and dangerous to access can. Back in city, they will spend their hard-earned treasures ! Each location has its own challenges and required for experience points and new equipment. thinking. For players, it is highly suggested to have three roles ful- filled (but not obligatory): 2. Social Interaction: You can interact with other players, with non-player characters and a wide variety of mon- • Caller: The caller’s job is to be the prime speaker for the sters. This can serve to further your goals, seek out help, group. When the group can’t decide, or the Referee or hinder foes. need an answer from the group, he will be chosen to do so. It is possible (and encouraged) to switch the Caller 3. Combat: Combat, although necessary, is very deadly between session of play. and dangerous. It is best to become creative with it, notably by outclassing your opponent through clever • Mapper: The mapper’s job is to, like his name, map dun- strategy, and try to dodge it when necessary. Don’t be geons and wilderness as it is being explored. The map- afraid to run from combat or from a dungeon ! per will need to have graph paper and pencil. It is sug- gested to Referee to grant a small 5 to 10% XP bonus for 4. Resource Management: Especially linked with 1 and 3. the mapper since his job is critical and difficult. You travel for long period of time and every combat tick away important resources that are necessary for • Scribe: He will take note of everything that was looted survival. Torches, food, water and all sorts of things we and put in who’s backpack. He will take care of nothing take for granted can become a burden, or a lack that things that were left undone, names of NPCs met, of leads to death for players that do not plan accordingly.