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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:36:41 GMT -5
A 20 Page "Player Reference Sheets" download is now available here. These are in the style of the original 1974 "Reference Sheets". Pertinent rules and tables from all four ZYLARTHEN volumes have been combined. In addition, a "Summary of the 'Pros' and 'Cons' of the Various Classes" and eighteen sample "Predetermined Starting Equipment" lists have been added. I hope the sum proves useful and valuable. Enjoy! |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:37:19 GMT -5
I'm interested in what people think of the sample "Predetermined Starting Equipment" sets. What characters may carry roughly maps out to the Moldvay/Cook-Labyrinth Lord tallies. But I have a feeling that some may think it a bit "harsh", especially compared with the 3 LBB allowances, augmented by the Greyhawk strength bonuses. Keep in mind that ZYLARTHEN gives NO extra carrying allowances based on strength (I think that mechanic is too fussy). Interestingly, the original OD&D "Reference Sheets" included a lot of stuff that the PLAYERS either didn't need to know or shouldn't know, such as monster tables with treasure types, wandering monster tables and so on. My idea was to provide a handy resource for the players, without giving away any secrets, so to speak. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:37:43 GMT -5
As some of you may have seen, I've put up two new blog posts on the Monsters of Zylathen here and here. Early OD&D features more monsters than one might think... |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:39:19 GMT -5
In response to all the men-types included in SVoZ I agree. However, I suspect that one reason why it fell out is because it would appear to be more difficult from the GM's point of view. Playing "monsters" that think requires you to, well, think. (I'm not being snarky here--the GM has enough thinking to do without being required to do even more of it.) And if you're running any kind of mixed party featuring multiple classes and multiple spell-users, etc., that's a lot for one person to keep track of. Does that make sense? Do you agree based on your GM'ing experience? Are there any supplements that give advice on this issue? |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:41:35 GMT -5
Response to question about prices in gold or silver No, it's all meant to be in silver. But I now understand the source of the ambiguity. (I'm wondering whether/how I should point that out in the text.) The price differentials were extrapolated from Orbis Mundi, Hodges and other sources. So if you assume it is gold, all the property stuff becomes too expensive. It's also meant to roughly fit in with the prices for "castle construction" given in The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures. As in the three little brown books, I wanted to keep prices simple--just numbers, so to speak--without getting into too much explicit coinage talk (at least in the context of the price lists). Does that make sense? |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:43:33 GMT -5
A question about further plans for SVoZ Plans: 1. At the one year anniversary of its launch (Christmas Eve, I think) the free version ends. An 'all in one' virtual edition will replace the four PDF books, with bookmarks, revised paginations and so on. For a price. Outstanding diverse errata will be (or has already been) corrected, and a rewritten (and much clearer) combat order section will be presented, But otherwise, no changes. 2. To be honest, I hadn't thought there was a market for an all in one hard copy. I will consider that. 3. An introductory children's adventure (also suitable for adults)--'Tea at my Uncle's Manse'--will be released soon. 4. Sleeping Beauty's Dungeon will be released at some point. How about dungeon delving into a fairytale...with Robots and Martians? 5. A '16th century' supplement (the original template and idea for the game) will be whipped into shape and released. Be prepared. It will be Catholic.  But also very very inclusive. 6. I would love to release a few monster supplements in 1d6 style, and I have been steadily but lazily writing descriptions, either of 'Classic' or 'Advanced' monsters, or their modern variations (to be made public only with the authors' permission, of course). No idea what the market, if any, is for that. It's probably a small one. 7. There is a pending possible collaboration with another designer, glomming on and taking advantage of their hard work of course... For a boxed edition, I would want to contract with a local printer. I probably would need a Kickstarter or something for that. I have no illusions as to how easy that would be. It's a niche of a niche of a niche product. And I LIKE the fact that the art is a hundred years old. That's probably not a selling point. My original goal--writing a game that I would want to play myself and with my children, and that perhaps a very few others would appreciate--has been met. This was an incredible triumph (for me), and it was not necessarily foreseen. I am extremely appreciative of the compliments, criticisms, commentary, publicity (of all kinds) and support that I have received on Zylarthen--such as that from that scoundrel merctime , that thief waysoftheearth , that plunderer @scottenkainen and other low life characters... At this point, everything else is a bonus. Oakes Which led to a request for a plunder, character class. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:47:54 GMT -5
Free Zylarthen Is About To Be Replaced by Non-Free Zylarthen I think this makes sense. The relevant blog post is here. Comments and criticism are welcome. Posted this for the blog post link. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:50:14 GMT -5
Sorry some of these are out of chronological order but it is hard to see which threads started first and interweave the posts (A shameless plug, cross posted from G+ and Save Versus All Wands) No, it's not a price cut per se. The truth is that Lulu changed printers midstream. Essentially, the quality of saddle stitch got worse (much worse) but the quality of perfect bound got better, at least for this style of book. However, the cost of perfect bound has for some reason always been quite a bit less than saddle stitch. So switching to perfect bound is now a no-brainer. The good news is that the new booklets will be good quality but significantly less expensive. You'll now be able to purchase all four booklets (with shipping) and use them for the rest of your life for less than the cost of taking a date to one movie! Though Zylarthen differs in a few obvious ways from its inspirational parent, We at Campion & Clitherow believe it is by far the most aesthetically accurate contemporary take on the 1974 "three little brown books" (accurate to a fault, some might say). Therefore, it's only fitting that the Zylarthen books are now almost the same price as the 1974 booklets. (Full disclosure, there are now four books instead of three. On the other hand, each current book has more pages on average than the originals. We actually wanted to set the price at a straight $5.00 but Lulu would't allow us to go that low for three of them.) From the pure point of view of economics, this makes the price of the set comparable to the one-volume editions of our, so to speak, competitors (all of which we have great respect for), and so we therefore hope the physical copies will reach more enthusiasts. We like the aesthetic of individual booklets and feel that it is fundamental to what we were trying to do. I doubt we will ever offer the game in another form. We are thankful to the many old schoolers that have so far downloaded the game, and are especially grateful to those that purchased the original saddle stitched booklets. (You now have "collectors editions" that will probably-unfortunately-never be duplicated, unless or until we can hook up with an amenable local printer.) Zylarthen is ideally meant to stand on it own as a rules system and game resource. A twenty-page Player Reference Sheets pamphlet is about to be published, summarizing some of the most important rules and charts in the four booklets, as well as a sample Character Record sheet. In the works is a supplementary volume of monsters-written in Zylarthen's "stripped down" style-as well as More Things in Heaven and Earth, a pseudo-Elizabethan take on the mechanic. Happy dungeoneering! Guard the innocent! Avenge the wronged! May you find heaps of gold at the end of your path, or at the least a memorable and heroic demise! But above all, God grant that you find wonder everywhere!Enjoy! |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:51:01 GMT -5
Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. I've revised the encumbrance rules somewhat. You can link to my blog or directly download the "pamphlet" here. These changes will be incorporated in ZYLARTHEN going forward (unless of course they stir up outrage, contempt, venom or the like). The main changes and points are: 1. Reducing the permitted number of units carried from 40 to 25. This makes things more “symmetrical” in that each encumbrance step is now 5 (as opposed to 5, 5, 10, 10 and 10.) 2. The attack/defense penalties on Super-Heavy encumbrance (Base Move: 3) have been eliminated. Thus the maximum encumbrance that one can have without suffering a penalty on combat is really only being reduced by 5 (from 30 to 25). In addition, there is an option to carry up to 10 more units without being able to attack or defend (perhaps holding a sack over one’s shoulder with both hands). 3. The intention behind changing the shape of the encumbrance steps was NOT to further limit what people can “really” carry. Rather, in part the assumption is that each encumbrance unit now represents on average a bit more weight. Many items still have an encumbrance of 1, and thus the result will be to make them slightly “heavier”. However, some of the already heavy items have in turn had their encumbrance units reduced. “Big” weapons generally had their encumbrance reduced from 5 to 3 or from 4 to 2. This also applies to the shield. It follows that there are now only 3 weapon encumbrance categories instead of 4, thus making things a bit simpler. In addition, the encumbrance of Plate Armor goes from 10 to 8, Mail from 8 to 6 and that annoyingly heavy sledge hammer from 6 to 3, among other things. Groups of items “adding up” to 1 encumbrance unit now generally contain more items (and thus their prices have been modified in a few cases). It should be noted that the only item that gains encumbrance on the new list is the crossbow. 4. Rules limiting the number of “big” items or weapons one may carry have been changed in conformity with the new assignments. I think the results are a bit simpler, clearer and more intuitive. These rules now only apply to weapons, not to the more general category of items. You can now carry 12 shovels if you d**n well want. 5. Partly in line with the above changes, but also for other reasons, I have revised the rules for Food and Water requirements in the wilderness. 6. Each set of text will include a reference as to what it “replaces.” Honestly, I put a great deal of thought into the original scheme and so I think it’s pretty good. (I wouldn’t have published ZYLARTHEN otherwise.) It’s just that I think this “alternate” scheme is a bit better. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:51:55 GMT -5
If you bought the recently launched $5.95 booklets, which I assume you did, then the answer is yes. I hope that's okay. There's one small fiddly change that you may or may not have, depending on when you bought them-I changed a "unit" of rations from 3 days to 1 week-but that's it. Barring someone pointing out some hitherto unnoticed super typo, the text is set in 1st edition stone. I'm about to release a "Player Reference Sheets" pamphlet in the style of the original wood-box "Reference Sheets", which will contain important tables and rules from all four volumes plus a few new things such as an assortment of ready-made equipment inventories for starting characters. It will also present the price and encumbrance lists again. But your copy should be consistent with that except for the rations. I hope no one is annoyed by the change. I thought about holding back until I did a "2nd edition", but decided it was better to just do it. Those that purchased or downloaded the game prior to May 25th can use either version, and as stated, the end results-what you can get away with carrying and how fast you'll move-are pretty much the same under both regimes. And of course I have a feeling that there are some Zylarthen fans who are skeptical of the whole encumbrance issue in general and would rather just hand-waive it. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:54:13 GMT -5
Characters & Combat pg 33, just under Hit Points is a paragraph on additional languages. Here was my reasoning: It's placed there because it's directly relevant to hit points and starting hit points--you may sacrifice one or more hit points to know one or more additional languages. The problem with putting it in the earlier languages section would have been that hit points had yet to be explained. As for that rule, I wanted to give languages more meaning. I tried to do that in a number of ways, among other things by explicit hints to the referee and players: Knowledge of the right language at the right time can be extremely useful for adventurers, either in making friends (often unlikely friends), or in negotiating, bargaining, threatening, appeasing and so on. At the least, one might overhear mutterings of treachery or plots by monsters unaware of one’s linguistic prowess. But I also figured a bit of reverse psychology wouldn't hurt--implicitly equating the value of an extra language with one full hit point. I'm interested in whether or not anyone here would be tempted to go for that deal. |
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 15:57:16 GMT -5
Yeah, as you may have noticed, the Zylarthen scheme tracks the Swords & Wizardry scheme, but it's 2 off. S&W takes the number of hit dice and then adds 1 or 2 (or perhaps even 3), based on special attacks and powers, etc. I do the same but start out by subtracting 2 from the hit dice. That's why I have A, B and C as opposed to just starting off at 1. I did this for two reasons. First, it fits symmetrically with level difficulty. Ideally, ONE Level 1 creature would be a good match for 1st level adventurers on, well, the 1st level of the dungeon. Second, I wanted a simple monster experience point system where you simply multiplied the monster level by some constant number to get the total. 100 seemed simplest, and was the scheme in the little brown books. But if you start at "Level 1" (as opposed to "Level 1" actually being 4th in the progression), you end up with monster experience point totals being (in my view) too high, at least at lower levels. Frankly, I think the labels "A", "B" and "C" are a bit awkward. I considered "-2", "-1" and "0" but felt that that would be even more awkward and confusing. I wonder if there is a better set of alternatives. |
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Aug 14, 2017 6:28:40 GMT -5
OK, I think I am sufficiently confused and must read a few years of the blog before I can remember what I've read so far. 😲
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Post by Admin Pete on Aug 14, 2017 6:52:34 GMT -5
OK, I think I am sufficiently confused and must read a few years of the blog before I can remember what I've read so far. If you have questions, oakesspalding may answer them, if you ask. |
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Aug 14, 2017 7:02:16 GMT -5
I need to educate myself to be qualified to know what I don’t know yet. Currently, I think it's either in final form, in PDF and pod, or available in either form but being revised, in either four volumes - or being revised into 3 LBBs. With A-1 steak sauce.
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Post by oakesspalding on Aug 18, 2017 23:34:10 GMT -5
I was traveling for the last week and I don't like doing anything on these boards (except the occasional lurk) on my iPhone. Thank, you again, Admin Pete, for putting together all of this material. I had forgotten about some of it, but I think I still agree with virtually all of the thoughts expressed (as ill-expressed as some of them are, if that makes sense). And, yes, I think Batten definitely deserves a thread. For mormonyoyoman: I've been late on everything I've promised, but I really am close: Supplement I: Book of Spells is almost ready. It increases the MU spell count from 6 x 20 to 6 x 30 plus 3 x 10 (for 7th, 8th and 9th level MU spells). It also rewrites many/most spells at least slightly, among other things to conform to a somewhat rationalized time mechanic. But that aspect is, of course, optional. In addition, all spells will be listed alphabetically. It also includes additional material on movement and time, aging, diseases, item saving throws and additional damage at higher levels. The supplement will be available as a hard-copy booklet but will also be available as a "free" inclusion with a combined E-version of the PDF's. I've decided that the E-version will be "revised" only for the most part to correct errors and to include bookmarks, links and the like. I think doing a "2nd edition" would be annoying for both the readers and the author! The combined E-edition will be sold at a price, and I'll probably be taking the free PDFs away (as I promised more than 2 years ago!). For Book of Spells, I will either include Batten art or a few works by a similar illustrator. The Batten art for the other parts of the E-edition will obviously stay the same. The only thing I'm not sure about is the "cover" for the E-edition. Any ideas? |
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But also very very inclusive. 
