Over the last few years, there have been periodic discussion on boards and blogs about using Holmes Basic as a complete RPG on its own - not with expansions to raise the level cap, but complete in itself as a gritty swords & sorcery system with a 3 level advancement cap.
Systemwise, you have a Traveller-esque approach where level advancement doesn't define the campaign. High HD monsters will always be epically dangerous (that 4 HD ogre won't get any easier to kill once you hit 3rd lvl), and low level (3rd level) PCs can found domains. The ongoing campaign will revolve around story goals (in the wider campaign world), exploration, acquisition of magic items, and the defeat of foes.
That said, a while back I ran across an interesting thread on Dragonsfoot (http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=33759) in which a poster described a campaign world where there were no deities in the classic sense. There were "gods", but all of them were powerful creatures that demanded worship and tribute from fearful low level types. In this sense, the "gods" were like the old Roman concept of genii locii ("local gods") worshipped by villages and tribes - gods of rocks and streams, hills and lakes. So.. a dragon might rule a city of goblins as their god, etc. The trope features in several classic D&D modules, most notable the naga cult in N1 and worship of the monstrous Zargon in B4.
From a published resource standpoint, those not wanting to go with worship of powerful monsters per se could go with some of the minor powers from the old JG "Unknown Gods" supplement: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ODDguild/conversations/messages/4147
For those not familiar with how such minor "gods" and their cults might play out, Lord Dunsany's short story "Chu-Bu and Sheemish" offers a good - and humorous - look at the idea: http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/d_chu-bu.htm
Anyone done this or played with the idea?
I'm running with a similar concept for GOD & GUILD™, which is a skill-based, non-level system I'm working on using just the Blue Book as inspiration. I think for long campaigns there will inevitably be some expansion as new magic items are introduced or new spells are invented. Overall, though, the power level will remain somewhere within that Holmes Basic range (hell, there are purple worms!).
ReplyDeleteI really like this concept. Thanks for sharing. I have recently got into the Blueholme group, and this is a great inspiration on making a campaign.
ReplyDeleteAs regards gods, I tend to go with an undefined monotheist religion plus some minor local heresies for the good clerics and a variety of cults for the evil ones. The former are entirely impersonal and the latter are very much involved in the mundane world (but generally on the level of "boss monster" avatars rather than personal manifestation).
ReplyDeleteNot specifically with religions & deities, but I've always felt that a 3rd level fighter is not much better than the 1st level fighter, aside from a handful of hits and perhaps a couple of sacks of gold to buy platemail (or better) armor with! 3rd level fighters don't hit any harder than a 1st level fighter. ;)
ReplyDeleteI believe it was JG Unknown Gods that Katkin Kalvin & I toyed with in my 0e/Holmes Portown campaign. I allowed the players to choose any deity they could find 0e, BX, BECMI, or 1e stats for. It became a campaign with a thousand nameless gods and millions of tiny roadside shrines littered the campaign wilderness...
At least it was supposed to be that kind of wilderness, but I hadn't quite worked all of that into the details yet, and I was too intent on subjecting my group to the Cockatrice Farm. (Alas! They took the path by the stream instead of going through the woods and they missed it!)
Ineresting point about fighters, Robert Weber, seems they get better at staying alive a lot faster than they get better at killing! Another reinforcement of the looting-over-killing emphasis of the early editions.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like that idea of not making leveling up the focus. I'll have to try that, I'm planning on running a family game beginning with B1 module as a jumping off point. I'll see how it goes.
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