Mothership - Assorted House Rules and Items

Just a handful of house rules and items I'm contemplating for Mothership, no biggie.

• If a character has the Biology, Genetics, First Aid, and Pathology skills, they are also treated as having the Surgery skill.
• Alternatively, just give everyone 3 extra skill points at character creation.
• Upon leveling up, if a character cannot gain any more Resolve (due to having reached the maximum previously), and they have no Stress, Phobias, or Addictions to remove, they gain 1 Frosty Point. At any time, the player may spend a Frosty Point to either heal all Stress or to remove one Phobia or Addiction. Spent Points are permanently lost.
• After a character reaches level 10, they gain 1 Frosty Point for every additional 125 XP they earn.
• One class of ship can be converted to another class through upgrades (see Player's Survival Guide page 28.1). This way, ships can exceed their normal maximum Hull Points (by up to three times), and can change which specific Vehicle Specialization applies to them.
• The ship must include all of the required modules of the new class.
• The ship must have between the minimum Hull Points and three times the maximum Hull Points of the new class. (E.g. A troop ship with 300 Hull Points could be converted to a cutter, but it could not be converted to a research vessel without a reduction of at least 30 Hull Points.)
• In addition to the usual upgrade costs (adding modules, Hull Points, etc.), conversion to a new ship class costs 100,000 credits times the new class' normal maximum Hull Points.
• It costs no additional fee besides the usual upgrade costs to exceed a ship's normal maximum Hull Points without conversion to another class. However, a brand new ship of any class cannot be bought with more than its normal maximum Hull Points. No ship can be upgraded to more than triple its current class' maximum Hull Points.
• (If this system ends up being too complicated or creates undesired side effects, I might just triple the maximum Hull Points of all ship classes across the board, or even disregard the maximums altogether and call it a day.)
• Once a character wearing heavy armor (e.g. Vaccsuit or Advanced Battle Dress) succeeds on a Strength Check to move their full Speed allotment in combat, they do not need to make any more Strength Checks to do so for the rest of the combat encounter.
• The Pulse Rifle now has an ammo capacity of 2(6), and the SMG has a capacity of 2(10).
• New Weapon: The "Smart Gun" from Aliens - Same as a Pulse Rifle, except:
• The Smart-link System adds +10 (Combat if wearing HUD)
• Ammo capacity is 2(12)
• No Thermal Scope or Grenade Launcher
• New Ground Vehicle: Westwood Series Group Transport Tractor
• Costs 70,000 Credits
• Hull 2, Armor 25, Speed 30 (150 km/h), Capacity 6 Passengers
• Thermal Vision up to 200m, exterior video cameras with 20x magnification, Short- and Long-Range Comms, basic computer systems
• Pressurized interior with up to 3 days of oxygen and life support for 6 people
• Another d10 Trinkets:
• 1 - Towel with a picture of a green cartoon alien face saying "DON'T PANIC"
• 2 - Tiny decorative vial of tritium
• 3 - Fish tank platform shoes with robotic goldfish
• 4 - Business card from a retrofuturist colony (designed to autodial a certain number when inserted into a phone)
• 5 - Fidget cube
• 6 - Zen garden rake
• 7 - Metal bolt with a long ribbon tied to it
• 8 - Origami crane made from fancy hotel stationery
• 9 - Switchblade comb
• 10 - Snowglobe full of comet dust
• Another d10 Patches:
• 1 - "Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap"
• 2 - Detail from H. R. Giger's Illuminatus - "This Will Explain Everything"
• 3 - Anthropomorphic cartoon bean* - "Real Human Bean"
• 4 - Stereotypical "gray alien" head
• 5 - Bohr model of atom - "WAP: Waves And Particles"
• 6 - Saturn and moons - "Titan Travel"
• 7 - "If You're Gonna Ride My Thrusters, At Least Pull My Hair!"
• 8 - Pillars of Creation
• 9 - Lasso around an icy moon - "Europan Me Into It!"
• 10 - Upside down American flag
• If I ever use the star map from the 1991 Aliens Adventure Game, I'll probably count the numbers between the planets as the number of hyperspace jumps it would take for a 1-Rated Jump Drive to get from one planet to the next. The higher your Jump Drive rating, the more jumps you can "do at once," so you'd divide the distance by your Jump Drive rating and round up to the next whole number.. Example: The distance from Honeycomb to New Chicago** is 12 jumps, so a ship with a 5-Rated Jump Drive could get there in 3 jumps.
• As for travelling with thrusters alone, compare your ship's Speed to the "Interstellar" column on the table on page 27.1 of the Player's Survival Guide. Since the planets on the map are all in different solar systems, each number represents the travel time in years at Speed 10-30, months at Speed 31-50, or weeks at Speed 51-80.

*Farting optional.

**I love these mundane planet names.

The Ghoul - A Thief Variant for Lost Carcosa and OD&D

As promised, here is my Ghoul class for OD&D and Lost Carcosa. It's basically a mash-up of a Thief and a BX-style race-as-class, meant to replace the playable Ghoul option presented in Lost Carcosa and operate alongside the usual Fighter, Magic-User, and Cleric.

The Ghoul

Prime Requisite: Dexterity

Hit Dice: As Magic-User

Attacks: As Cleric

Saving Throws: As Fighter

Armor: Leather only, no Shields

Weapons: Any (as Fighter)

XP per Level and Maximum Level: The same as all other classes - see my Lost Carcosa House Rules.

Thief Skills: Ghouls can Open Locks, Remove Traps, Pick Pockets, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Climb Sheer Surfaces, and Hear Noises just like the "Thief" class from Supplement I: Greyhawk. However, they use the probabilities of success outlined in the chart above, rather than those in Greyhawk.

Tools: Ghouls can easily craft strong, small tools out of bones, scrap metal, or various other dungeon detritus for use in picking locks and removing traps. They are assumed to begin play with such a set of robust tools, and if these should be lost, Ghouls can assemble a new set within d6 turns (unless unconscious, immobilized, sealed in a completely empty room, etc.). At the DM's discretion, they may also be allowed to craft other types of simple tools in lieu of buying them, given enough time and proper materials.

Backstab/Sneak Attack: Ghouls can attack silently from behind with the same advantages as the "Thief" class from Supplement I: Greyhawk. (See the chart above for the damage multiplier at each level.)

Read Languages and Scrolls: Ghouls can "read most (80%) languages" at Level 3 and cast spells from Magic-User scrolls at Level 10 just like the "Thief" class from Supplement I: Greyhawk.

Tracking: Ghouls can sniff out fresh corpses within a mile on a roll of 4 or less on a d6 at Level 1, with the probability of success increasing with the Ghoul's level as per the "Tracking" skill on the chart above. They can likewise track living creatures that have passed within 60 feet of their position in a dungeon, or a half-mile in the wilderness, at the same probability. When doing so, they receive a penalty of 1 for every full hour that has passed since the trail was laid, so even the highest-level Ghouls cannot follow the six-hour-old trail of a living creature. Ghouls can track undead creatures more easily, with penalties being applied for every day that has passed instead of every hour.

Keen Senses: Ghouls detect secret doors when passing by (like Elves) and detect traps/underground features (like Dwarves) with the same probability as their Hear Noise skill, unlike other classes. When deliberately searching, Ghouls detect secret doors with the same probability as their Tracking skill.

Infravision: Ghouls can see 60 feet in the dark.

Not Picky: Ghouls can safely eat meat and other animal parts that would be considered dangerously spoiled/rotten/inedible by human standards. This generally requires no saving throw. They also make saving throws against ingested poisons with a +4 bonus.

Repulsive to Normies: Human (and Dwarf/Elf/Halfling) NPCs will always refuse to work as hirelings/retainers/henchmen for Ghouls, regardless of their Charisma score. To earn the trust of a horse, mule, dog, or other mundane surface-dwelling animal, a Ghoul must pass a Charisma check by rolling their Charisma score or lower on a d20; failure means the animal will flee the Ghoul whenever possible and otherwise be completely uncooperative.

Ride the Night-Wind: Ghouls do not build strongholds like other classes, being aloof creatures who revel in their seemingly carefree wanderings and live as if in a dream. Some say the most venerable Ghouls organize expeditions to dig magical tunnels to other worlds, but who can say what secrets are kept by the Charnel Lords?

Cover art by Lee Brown Coye. Found HERE.

Notes

Even without any mechanical changes, I think OD&D Thieves could still work fairly well as a BX-style race-as-class of Ghouls if presented or "flavored" right. D&D Thieves spend an awful lot of time slinking around tombs, after all, like subterranean scavengers and occasional ambush predators.* But come on, it's me we're talking about - I couldn't resist trying to soup things up.

The saving throws and weapon selection follow Holmes Basic. For the Thief skills, I applied the highest possible demihuman bonus from Greyhawk in each category: +10% to Open Locks like a Halfling, +15% to Remove Traps like a Dwarf, etc. The Tracking skill started with a Ghoul's ability to sniff out corpses in Lost Carcosa and ended up being expanded in scope due to inspiration from the Ranger class and the dog-like nature of Lovecraft's ghouls. I didn't bother with alignment restrictions, but it probably wouldn't hurt to ban lawful Ghouls or even restrict them to only chaos if you really want.

The crafting of tools is mostly for flavor, but I guess it could save some parties a little money or get them out of a few highly-specific jams. Very generous DMs might let players make up for poor pre-delve planning by letting the Ghoul in the party whip up some ten-foot poles or something.

I was tempted to add a note that they can dig through the ground more quickly and for longer than humans, but I decided that would be overcomplicating things. I also pretty much wimped out of detailing any mechanics for creating tunnels to other worlds. I was going to make that the Ghoul's "name-level" project in lieu of the strongholds built by other classes, but 1) I got lazy, and 2) I once again worried about overcomplicating things. Maybe I'll come back and expand on these concepts later. Or maybe I'll save such "advanced" ideas for AD&D. In the meantime, I suppose you could consider the lack of name level follows and "stronghold privileges" a deliberate disadvantage to help balance this class against the others. Or you could call me on my bullcrap and design your own ghoulish endgame.

If this class seems overpowered, I guess you could knock the Thief skills back down to the human norm, or have them roll saving throws like Magic-Users, or restrict their weapons. Their "detection" abilities should probably be reduced a little if you want to use this class without following my accompanying house rules. I have no idea what their XP progression should be in such a case.

If this class still seems underpowered, as many have accused the old-school Thief of being (including yours truly), I'm not sure what else to add without totally stepping on the Fighter's toes. I originally gave this class the Cleric's hit dice, so there's that.

Feedback is more than welcome, as usual. Hopefully I'll be able to test this out myself and report back. In the meantime, happy Spooktober everybody!

Cheat Sheet for the Ghoul Class

*They say a Thief can fit their entire body through any space they can fit their head through; you can't keep these creeps out of anywhere.

Lost Carcosa House Rules for OD&D

As mentioned previously, I've been itching to play Lost Carcosa, the new OD&D fan-supplement by Tristan Tanner of The Bogeyman's Cave. Here are my tentative house rules for doing so!

Rulebooks

Core Rules = Lost Carcosa, plus the "Little Brown Books," AKA Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures (plus the Reference Sheets)

Rule Clarification: The retroclone Full Metal Plate Mail, The Strategic Review, Chainmail, the "Holmes" Basic Set, Supplement I: Greyhawk, and The Dragon/Dragon/Dragon Magazine will likely be referenced. Others may be added if desired.

Experience and Levels

All classes follow the Full Metal Plate Mail version of my Unified XP Chart to determine how many experience points are needed to gain each level.

Level 13 = Maximum level for all PCs.

No training is needed to gain a level.

Mostly Humans

All PCs are humans or Ghouls. PCs cannot be Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, Zoogs, etc.

Humans can be either Fighters, Magic-Users, or Clerics. Ghouls are a class unto themselves.

All human PCs detect secret doors like Elves (1-4 on d6 for deliberate searches, 1-2 on d6 when passing by), detect traps/underground features like Dwarves (1-2 on d6), and detect sound through doors like Elves/Dwarves/Halflings (1-2 on d6).

All PCs begin play knowing one additional language of their choice beyond the default.

Magic

All spells in the "Little Brown Books" and Lost Carcosa are known by members of their respective classes as soon as they are at a high enough level to cast them. However, spells from other sources (e.g. the Supplements) must be either researched at the normal cost or found and copied from a scroll or spellbook before they can be added to a character's own spellbook, and thus memorized and cast. The DM reserves the right to veto the existence of any spell.

Most magic items are identified immediately. Potions must still be sipped to ID, though.

The new magic items of Lost Carcosa may be used by PCs of all classes.

(Something I'm still chewing over: How do Clerical scrolls work?)

Other General Changes

Ability Score rolls = best 3 out of 4d6, arrange to taste.

PCs are knocked unconscious at 0 HP, and die when reduced to their level in negative HP. (E.g. Level 4 = Dead at -4 HP)

Two-handed melee weapons add +1 to damage, except for staves wielded by Magic-Users.

Unarmed attacks do d2 points of damage. Shoddy and improvised weapons do d4 damage.

Dungeon doors are not stuck closed by default, but specific ones may be stuck as chosen by the DM.

Fighters (AKA Fighting-Men, as I'm using these terms interchangeably)

Strength Bonus: Fighters get +1 to hit with melee attacks and do +1 melee damage if their Strength is 15 or greater.

Multiple (Normal) Attacks: Fighters can make 2 normal attacks per round starting at Level 4 (Hero), 3 normal attacks per round starting at Level 8 (Superhero), and 4 normal attacks per round starting at Level 12.

Crowd Control Attacks: Instead of attacking normally (i.e. in the above fashion), Fighters can make one melee attack per level per round against enemies of less than 2 HD. Fighters cannot make multiple attacks in this fashion (i.e. "Crowd Control") and in the above fashion (i.e. multiple "normal" attacks) in the same combat round.

Dwarf Weapons: Human Fighters can use magic weapons normally reserved for Dwarves.

Magic-Users

Intelligence Bonus: Magic-Users get 1 extra First Level spell per day if their Intelligence is 15 or greater.

No "Read Magic" Spell: Read Magic is removed from the spell list. Scrolls, runes on wands and magic items, and other typical magical writing that normally requires the use of this spell can instead by read automatically by any Magic-User. This skill is considered a basic part of a Magic-User's training. Essentially, every Magic-User is under the permanent effect of a "Read Magic" spell at all times.

Weapons: Magic-Users can attack with staves as well as daggers.

Clerics

Wisdom Bonus: Clerics get 1 extra First Level spell per day if their Wisdom is 15 or greater.

Level 6 Spells: Clerics gain one Sixth Level Spell per day at Level 12 in addition to their normal spells per day in order to be able to cast the new Sixth Level spell in Lost Carcosa. (If the maximum of Level 13 is ignored, see Supplement I: Greyhawk for higher level spell progression.)

Dwarf Weapons: Human Clerics can use blunt magic weapons normally reserves for Dwarves.

Spellbooks and Research: Clerics use spellbooks like Magic-Users. Clerics can research new Clerical spells just as Magic-Users can research their own spells, and the cost of doing so is calculated the same way.

EDIT: I neglected to mention that many of these house rules are inspired by - or directly taken from - Gary Gygax's house rules for OD&D, specifically the ones originally detailed online in 2005 and 2007. I think you can find the relevant house rules HERE, HERE, and HERE. UPDATE: There's an excellent summary of these house rules HERE.

Current Gaming Plans

I've been "volunteered" by my darling wife to run a D&D campaign for a group of her friends who have never played a tabletop RPG before. This will be my second regular campaign at the moment, the other being the LotFP game I've had going for about a year or two. Speaking of which, the latter will probably conclude soon, making way for other games with that same group. And of course, I always have gaming ideas on the backburner I fantasize about that might or might not actually manifest. So here's a quick list of what I'm playing now and want to play within, say, the next year or two.

Older Group - We're hoping to do these in order:

1. If my players don't throw me any more major curveballs, I expect "Mansions & Mindfucks" to finish up in about 4 to 8 more sessions.
2. Next, I'm going to run Black Blade of the Demon King as a one-shot or mini-campaign. It's an awesome adventure from Knight Owl Publishing, the creators of Meatlandia, just chock full of raditude and baditude. I figure it'll take about 2 to 4 sessions.
3. Then, we'll start one of two games:
1. My Super-Casual Pulp Campaign, or...
2. A Call of Cthulhu campaign run by my friend, so I can be a normal player for once.
4. And either interspersed throughout, or after the completion of, whichever option is chosen first, we'll play the other option.

Newer Group - I haven't decided which of these I want to run.

1. I could run an OD&D game using the wonderful new fan supplement Lost Carcosa, written by the author of the excellent blog The Bogeyman's Cave, or...
2. I could give my BX25 house rules a spin (along with my new copy of Old-School Essentials), maybe in conjunction with some obscure campaign setting just for flavor. (I have a reputation for extreme nerdery to uphold, after all.) Pelinore? Thunder Rift? The Hollow World within Mystara?

Wish List:

1. I've got to get some Mothership in my life! It's bound to scratch that SF-horror itch for me, and it just looks so damn fun and creative and easy to run.
2. Likewise, I want to play Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1E if I get the chance! I love the setting of the "Old World" and a lot of the idiosyncratic rules and features like the career system, the critical hit tables, and CHAOS. I'd also settle for 4E, since I was pretty impressed by what I saw in the starter box.
3. I'm still eager to run Thieves' World! I considered using it as the setting for the new group, but I think it might be a bit too dark and unusual to serve as the first RPG experience of a whole bunch of people I don't know very well yet. Something more typical might be in order as an introduction to D&D. If they've been hearing about what D&D is like from other people before now, they probably heard from people who play 5E or Pathfinder, so there's a good chance they'll initially want elves and the titular dragons and such, which is certainly reasonable. Besides, I'd like to catch up on the fiction (the short stories and comics, at least) before trying to run the setting. So onto the "low priority" pile this goes...sigh...
4. There are actually a whole bunch of other "types" of D&D I'd like to try out and tinker with. This might be the subject of a new post soon, so stay tuned.

Happy nerdy wife, happy nerdy life. Courtesy of http://deathgenerator.com/

OD&D Unified XP Chart (House Rule)

 This is a follow-up to my post about level or experience limits in OD&D.

I decided that if I ever run Original D&D with just the Little Brown Books (no Supplements), or a retroclone of such with very "faithful" experience-points-needed-per-level charts, then I will probably use a single chart for all classes instead of the default separate tables. I don't like how wildly the XP charts vary between classes by default (as opposed to, say, BX D&D), making it hard to pick equivalent maximum level limits if so desired. Plus, in this variation of D&D I don't think the advantages of giving each class its own chart are great enough to be worth the added complexity. A unified table would probably be faster to reference and to explain to players, and it might make it easier to compare characters, since I don't think it will actually affect "class balance" very drastically at all.

Here's what I came up with:

The F, C, and M columns indicate which class' table I chose to follow for that level. A check mark means that's what I picked, while a blank space means that amount is less that what this class usually needs for that level, and a red dot means that it's more than usual.

I created the table pictured above by comparing the XP tables for all three classes in the Little Brown Books (Fighting Man, Cleric, and Magic-User) at each level, and choosing the middle amount of experience needed for any class to reach that level. For example, to gain level 4, a Cleric only needs 6,000 XP, a Fighting Man needs 8,000, and a Magic-User needs 10,000. The Fighting Man amount of 8,000 was neither the highest nor the lowest of the three for that level, so that's what I went with. The only exception to this method, besides the obvious requirement of 0 XP for level 1, was level 7 because the Cleric and Magic-User both need 50,000 XP for that level. I just stuck with that amount to be generous to players. If you would rather have players spend a more even amount of time at both levels 6 and 7, just change the level 7 requirement from 50,000 to 64,000.

If you don't want a max level of 13, and you don't want to keep extrapolating all three classes' original XP tables just to pick the middle amount, here's a quick-and-dirty thing you could try: keep taking the "middle road" in a different way by requiring +240,000 XP per level after that, as per the Fighting Man class. Probably inaccurate, but maybe good enough?

I also made a unified XP table for the retroclone Full Metal Plate Mail, as seen below. It turned out to be exactly the same as the OD&D one until level 12. Honestly, even if I'm running straight-up OD&D instead of a retroclone, I might still end up using this chart instead of the more "accurate" one above. None of us are getting any younger, so I'm not sure there would be any benefit to making players earn 1.5 times as much XP for level 13 when I'd be grateful just to have the campaign last long enough for even 600,000 XP to be within a single player's reach. This table also has the advantage of being easy to extrapolate past level 13 if one does not like my chosen level cap: just add 100,000 more XP per level.

(C)Harm Person

Here's a d12 table of better names for that racist spell from older versions of Tunnels & Trolls. (You know, the "Charm Person" ripoff.)

1. Enchantée
2. Charmed, I'm Sure
3. The Ol' Razzle-Dazzle
4. Water Under the Bridge Troll
5. Hostile Takeover
6. Play Nice!
7. Heel-Face Turn
8. An Offer You Can't Refuse
9. Resistance is Futile
10. Friendship is Magic
11. I'm the Captain Now
12. Roll a d4 on the Fiend Pun Table:
1. Best Fiends
2. Fast Fiends
3. Fair-Weather Fiends
4. With Fiends Like These...

Update on 09/07/20: Back in July, it looks like Flying Buffalo changed the name of the spell in question to "Obey Me!" in all PDF copies of the 1st, 4th, and 5th Edition rules currently for sale. Check the comments section on the 5E store page for details: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/210996/Tunnels--Trolls-Rules-5th-Editon

Half-Mile and Six-Mile Hex Cheat Sheet

I've always struggled with distance and scale in tabletop RPGs. I'm also...let's say "rusty" on my geometry, especially that of the hexagonal persuasion. Converting between different mapping scales is one of my biggest bugbears, as is the whole process of...you know, taking a real-world place or object and figuring out how to size it on a map, or conversely, looking at a map and picturing in my mind's eye how big or far it should be realistically. I'm exponentially worse at this with hexes than with squares.

Thanks to a very enlightening post at The Hydra's Grotto, I've grown fond of using 6-mile hexes for wilderness travel. Rereading that post the other day, I was struck by the idea of subdividing 6-mile hexes into half-mile ones, and after trying to sketch this out I realized I didn't know how to actually make that work - as in, how to fit the little hexes into the big hexes. After scouring the internet for a map or diagram demonstrating this technique, I resorted to just screwing around with some hex grid paper (courtesy of Imcompetech) until I figured it out. Well, at least I think I did. If there's a better way assemble these dang ol' hexagons can someone please let me in on the secret?

At that point, I took a few more notes, and now I think I've almost got my head wrapped around the problems mentioned above. This is probably "no duh" territory for a lot of people, but I personally found the whole exercise useful enough that I figured I should share my notes in case anyone else has been hexed by hexes like me. It would put a real smile on my face if I helped make the subject less intimidating for even one person.

Coming to D&D from a mix of 3rd Edition and various video games, I was slightly perturbed by the sudden influx of hex grids into my life when I started delving into older editions and OSR stuff. I've grown increasingly fond of hex maps over time, but I almost wish I could send posts like this back in time to myself circa 2013 or so and clear up the concepts that confused me the most.

Here's a side view, so you don't have to turn the image or your head/monitor.

Now I just need someone to explain THAC0 for the millionth time so that'll hopefully sink in.

Combat Metagaming is Fine

That's right, ANOTHER hot take, baby!

When it comes to RPGs like D&D that feature A) lots of focus on tactical combat and B) big ol' super-enticing fancy-looking bestiaries, I think that metagaming is A-OK. This isn't an original thought, nor is it particularly controversial among the RPG intelligentsia I hang out with, but I guess this is still a controversial opinion for some.

My opinions are important!

Blah blah "Metagaming creates dissonance between the knowledge and actions of the characters," yadda-yadda whatever. I know you can't "win" D&D in the conventional sense, but some of the main goals of the game are generally considered to be keeping your character alive,* improving their abilities or status, and achieving their personal goals. When a PC dies in a way the player did not want them to die, that's a fail-state, right? Are you going to look me in the eye and say "Justin, I want you to get totally invested in the role of this character. I want you to care about them, and desire to do whatever you can to see that they succeed. Now I want you to fight a bunch of life-or-death battles with one hand tied behind your back," and expect me to feel no qualms, no resistance to at all? What about my dissonance? The goddessdamn nerve!

I don't like to punish players for being good at the game, and one form of "being good" is being knowledgeable. If your players derive genuine fun and joy from the tactical aspect of your game SO MUCH that they're willing to memorize the whole fucking monster manual, just let them enjoy themselves. Sheesh. Besides, those "Monster Manuals" and suchlike are just so cool with their illustrations and (in the best cases) intriguing ecological/mythological details and suggestive bits of lore and other imagination fuel...how can I begrudge anybody for wanting to read them in their own free time?

You know what draws so many people into RPGs in the first place? The monsters! Build on that enthusiasm instead of working against it. Capitalize on your players' craving for more MORE MORE to get them completely invested in the game's setting and the decisions they make.

Here's a fun idea: try giving your players reasonable in-game access to the kind of information they already know about your setting's monsters, so that their characters know the same things they know about the game in reality. "Oh look, it's a shambling mound. Woah, hold on there, my magical friend! Remember that codex we read in the Gardeners' Guild library? It said these freaks don't mind getting hit by lightening. Better adjust our tactics." Voila, no dissonance.

Besides, imagine how annoying it would be if you had to pretend not to know how the knights and bishops move at the beginning of every game of chess. The nice thing about RPGs is that when the "knights and bishops" get stale, you can swap them out for more interesting pieces you haven't used yet. Not only are there probably a bajillion pre-made pieces waiting in the wings, but there's also anything you can personally create. Make some shit up!

Here's my important caveat about metagaming: Homebrew monsters (including novel variations on "official" existing monsters) are also perfectly fine, and their use should be savored and encouraged, as long as such monsters are not solely meant to serve as total screwjobs for the players. By this I mean monsters that cannot be overcome and/or avoided and/or outsmarted at all, or at least in any reasonable way that the players could have discovered.

But other than total screwjobs, if your players are whining about homebrew content just because they can't metagame it, then your players suck and need to git gud. RPGs open a world of limitless imagination, and if the rulebooks hold back joy of creativity and wonder, fuck the books.

Metagaming is like sex: there's nothing inherently wrong with it, you can have lots of fun doing it, and too many people get all hung up over it...but no one owes it to you either, nor do you owe it to anyone else, and most people don't want to literally do it all the time.

TL;DR Metagaming is totally hot and all the sexy nerds are doing it. #metagaming #sex #seo-optimization

Pics courtesy of https://deathgenerator.com/

*At least until they can die in a satisfying way...which probably doesn't involve the vast majority of possible deaths they face. Hence why death is generally a fail-state in the game.

Check out Dissident Whispers!

Now you can contribute to the Nation Bail Fund Network and obtain a veritable treasure trove of incredible RPG content in one fell swoop! Dissident Whispers is a new for-charity adventure compilation by the Whisper Collective.

Purchase Dissident Whispers as a PDF HERE or HERE.
Purchase a physical copy of Dissident Whispers HERE (in the U.S.) or HERE (internationally).

Behold the official blurb from Tuesday Knight Games:

An anthology of 58 original two-page RPG adventures made by a diverse, international collective of creators in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

All proceeds go directly towards the National Bail Fund Network.

Delve into mythic underworlds, shiver through haunted space ships, schmooze with high society. You'll never go unequipped for game night with this eclectic host of adventures in hand.

Adventures for Mothership, MÖRK BORG, Trophy Gold, Troika!, Electric Bastionland, Dungeon Crawl Classics, The Ultraviolet Grasslands, The Black Hack, Mausritter, B/X, 5e, and many System Agnostic scenarios.

• Cover by Jabari Weathers
• Introduction by Laura Simpson

Created by a team of 90 authors, designers, editors, and illustrators including…

• Writing by Chris McDowall (Electric Bastionland) and Luke Gearing (Fever Swamp)
• Layout by Johan Nohr (MÖRK BORG) and Sean McCoy (Mothership)
• Art by David Hoskins (Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea), Evlyn Moreau (Fabulous Mini Guild, Chromatic Soup), and Doug Kovacs (DCC) 

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Thieves' World Box Set - Choosing a System

I have no idea when I'll do it, but I eventually want to run a campaign in the Thieves' World setting, primarily using Chaosium's old box set. I was originally going to use LotFP with some house rules as my system of choice, but I'm honestly not such a big fan of LotFP anymore, as seen HERE and HERE and in the comment section HERE. So that leaves me with the issue of figuring out which game I want to use instead.

It's not exactly a pressing issue, since I won't be running Thieves' World anytime soon. I want to familiarize myself with the source fiction (and not just the RPG material) before I begin, and I have other gaming plans in the near future anyway. I'm also completely spoiled for choice; the box set includes NPC stats for nine different games, and some later publications (like the Thieves' World Companion and an article in Different Worlds #19) add a few more games to the mix. Besides, most of the other setting information in the box set is presented in a system-neutral manner, so I guess you could conceivably use it with almost any system.

Long story short, I made a list of game systems I'm considering for use with Thieves' World. Nothing definitive, just some ideas I had while the topic was on my mind. Here's what I've got so far, in no particular order:

• B/X D&D, with or without either my BX+RC bridge rules or my BX25 house rules.
• AD&D 1st Edition, with or without the additional rules from TSR's Lankhmar box set.
• The Fantasy Trip
• Tunnels & Trolls
• RuneQuest
• Stormbringer (probably 4th Edition)
• Neoclassical Geek Revival
• Troika!
• The Black Hack (or one of its 10 bazillion variations)
• Into the Odd
• Maze Rats
• Knave
• Dungeon Crawl Classics
• Original Edition Delta
• Low Fantasy Gaming
• Dark Fantasy Basic
• Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (probably 1st Edition, possibly 2nd or 4th)
• Traveller (suggested by Kelvin Green in the comments)

I'd be glad to consider other suggestions, of course.

P.S. If I do end up using some variety of D&D, I'm also tempted to throw in a pretty crazy house rule. Originally, I was going to make all Blue Star Adepts immortal as a class feature. But what if everyone of a certain level or higher (let's say 9th level, the fabled "name level") were to become immortal, PC and NPC alike, regardless of class? My reasoning is that the gods are very active participants in the setting, and that anyone who reaches such a level of skill and importance is bound to be chosen by one or more gods as a servant or avatar of sorts, a pawn in their machinations, whether they know it or not. This wouldn't exactly be a known fact among the mortal populace, except insofar as they know that sometimes important or legendary figures tend to catch the gods' attention, which can have a variety of effects for good or ill. But if you become an experienced enough character, you're going to catch the attention of someone or something that will want to keep you around for a while as part of some ineffable scheme...