Matrix Rolling

I've said that rolling stats is an important part of character creation, but the actual process of rolling takes time. Not a lot, but in a high-lethality game where you're regularly making new characters (often mid-session) the time spent rolling stats can become a bottleneck.

I use matrix rolling to avoid that delay.

Normally when creating a character you roll 3d6 or 4d6 six times and move on. With matrix rolling you roll 36 times and place the values in a 6x6 grid (aka a matrix).

This gives you 12 possible stat lines to choose from, 6 vertical and 6 horizontal. Whenever you make a character, pick one of the 12 lines and cross it off. Then, when that character meets their horrible end, go back to the grid and pick one of the remaining lines to use in making your next character.

It takes a little extra time to generate the matrix when you start, but it's worth it to be able to jump back into the game faster after being dispatched messily.

This is what a "roll X in order" matrix looks like:

The inner square (blue) is the pattern to fill the grid in; starting in the upper left and going down, wrapping around to the top of each column until you reach the bottom right. The outer numbers (red) are each of your possible stat lines, and the stat names for keeping track of "in order."

Here's an example of how it plays out. I rolled this grid:

Looking at what I got, I'd start by picking the third horizontal row. Cross that line off and make a beefy fighter, Gerald.

After Gerald's tragic demise (eaten by a grue) I decided to play someone brainier who won't bumble alone into the dark, so I grab the sixth vertical row for my new wizard.

(The last 14 is used by both lines. That's fine. Crossing a line off means you can't use that complete set of 6 numbers again. You can still use the individual numbers where different lines intersect.)

And so it goes until all 12 of your pre-rolled stat lines have been used, then you generate another grid's worth. (And wonder why your game is so incredibly lethal. Maybe it's you.)

Thinking About Stats

Most RPGs use stats. They're usually the first thing you do when creating a character and so common that you don't even think about it. When I stop and consider the role stats play in the fabric of an RPG it breaks down to three main things:

Stats are important as benchmarks.
Stats connect a character to the game's world by providing a context for how their skills and abilities fit into that world. RPGs are about having fun while interacting with a fictional world, and stats are the reference point that helps you determine what shape that interaction takes. They guide how your character might face a problem, what sort of solution they would come up with, and how well it would work.

Stats should be random.
Rolling for your character's stats creates challenges for them and sets them up to develop through play. If you wanted to play a wizard but rolled a low INT you have a choice: Reroll your stats until you get a set of numbers you like, or use the low INT and run with it. Be a sadsack wizard who's questing to become more powerful and focus on raising that stat throughout the game. Those decisions can't really come up if you use a non-random method like point buy to generate your stats. Randomness creates more interesting options to play with.

Higher stats aren't better.
Most folks assume players will choose higher stats for their characters if given the opportunity and that higher equals better, but high stats can be boring. Taking risks is part of playing games and where's the risk when you know your rolls will succeed because of your good stats? It's usually more fun to have a solidly mediocre statline and let RP carry the game, abysmally low stats the require extreme cleverness, or a wildly inconsistent assortment of high and low than it is to have high stats across the board.

Tiny Coffins Challenge: December (bonus!)

 Welcome back! This final prompt is:

"undeniable beauty in desolation"

Ice storms are an annual event around here. They're destructive as hell. Freezing rain that coats everything it touches in a glaze of ice. The extra weight breaks trees and pulls down power lines. The ice covering every flat surface makes roads impassable and footpaths a hazard. But when the sun comes out and sparkles through the branches of the trees that are still standing and makes the world look like it's plated in silver, it's still beautiful.

The Triple Door

Made of solid oak with birdseye maple veneer and patinated copper hardware, the Triple Door is a tasteful addition to any dungeon and the ultimate in discontinuous dimensional transportation. The top and bottom halves of this spatially untethered dutch door open onto different places, and lead to a third location when opened together as a unit.

Call 1-800-FUN-HOUS today to discuss financing and schedule your installation!

Troika! Background-Writing Tips

A while ago on the MAC discord server I shared a list of the things I try to do when writing backgrounds for Troika!. I'm posting it again here in case it might be useful to someone and so it's not lost in the scroll of channels.

The best advice on writing backgrounds comes from page 2 of the core rules: "Balance the enjoyment rather than the numbers."

The most important thing is to try and make something that's fun to play as. Something that will spark a player's imagination and inspire ideas about who this person they've rolled is.

Keeping that in mind, here are the rules of thumb that I try to follow when writing backgrounds:

1 Focus on a specific flavor and write only as much as it takes to convey that flavor.
2 Don't repeat information, unless you specifically want to make the repetition a joke or an important detail.
3 Imply information more than you actually write details.
4 When you do give details make them interesting and something that readers wouldn't automatically assume. (ex: An immortal hero background would obviously have a legendary weapon, so don't list their sword in their possessions. Instead list a battered photo album of their past companions.)
5 Don't go overboard with possessions and skills, only give the key elements of the flavor.
6 Only give a special ability if it's vital to enhancing the flavor.
7 Keep the background open enough that it can apply to multiple sequential characters. It's a background for a group/profession of people, not an individual.

Troika! Lists Reference

Troika! only uses d6's which means most of the lists in the game are numbered in base-6 or base-3 instead of base-10. I was curious and felt like doing some basic math, so here's the most common Troika! lists in ascending order by size with how many entries you'll need to write for each noted in base-10. Lists that generate bell curves/standard distributions are noted, the rest produce linear results.

d6 - 6

3d3 - 7, curve

d33 - 9
2d6 - 11, curve
d26 - 12
3d6 - 16, curve
d36 - 18
d66c - 21*
d333 - 27
d66 - 36
d3333 - 81
d666 - 216
d33333 - 243
d6666 - 1296

*d66c is d66 combo, where the order of the numbers rolled doesn't matter (ex: 12 = 21, 23 = 32, 56 = 65, etc.) It's numbered 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 33, 34, 35, 36, 44, 45, 46, 55, 56, 66.

A few more that I find aesthetically displeasing but do exist:

d222 - 8

d226 - 24

d336 - 54

d266 - 72
d366 - 108

Do not do this to yourself:
d66666 - 7776

d66 Elder God Exposure Side Effects

Treat elder gods, their avatars, and spawn like the existential hazards they are. 

They're cosmically awful and unspeakable entities beyond the scope of our reality. Exposure to them is physically dangerous and mutagenic in profound, unpredictable ways. Like standing unshielded in front of a living, baleful sun. 

Elder God Exposure Side Effects (d66)
11 Begin coughing up worms every Ud20 minutes after initial exposure.
12 Eyes skin over and migrate to somewhere else on your body.
13 Fingers begin to split and bud into a fractal net of phalanges.
14 Glowing cilia starts sprouting from your mucus membranes.
15 Perfectly round holes begin appearing on your body 1d3 days after initial exposure. Number increases exponentially after first appearance.
16 Webs of mycelium spread under your skin, fruiting bodies erupt through cracks and shed spores.
21 Your bones slowly transmute into jade ridged with fine networks of spirals.
22 Spontaneous second and third-degree burns forming unknown scripts appear on your skin 2d8 hours after initial exposure.
23 First-degree burns develop on any uncovered skin, immediately begins peeling in thick sheets.
24 Your teeth become deciduous and grow in rows across the roof and floor of your mouth.
25 Salivary glands begin producing silk alongside spit.
26 Begin seeing colors beyond the visible spectrum.
31 Teeth fuse into a single sharp bone ridge.
32 Your flesh automatically grafts itself to other living tissue on contact.
33 Your reflection is replaced by Something Else. Only some people notice the change.
34 Tears replaced by a thin black fluid that clots blood instantly.
35 You can't digest normal food anymore.
36 Blood begins to glow pale violet, pulsing in irregular rhythms.
41 Injuries heal quickly with rusty orange chitin instead of new skin.
42 Bones turn cartilaginous and connective tissues become elastic.
43 Your shadow billows and reaches towards light sources.
44 You can taste electromagnetic fields and radiation.
45 Flesh becomes transparent as glass in irregular blotches.
46 Begin hearing sound frequencies outside the normal human range.
51 Sweat turns pale milky green and corrosive to metals.
52 Fully comprehend every language except your first.
53 Eyes segment into compound eyes surrounded by smaller supplementary ocelli.
54 Begin experiencing detailed, accurate premonitions in dreams.
55 Begin accidentally initiating time loops during periods of high stress.
56 You can hear the things crawling behind the walls of reality and gnawing at the edges.
61 Begin reproducing asexually by budding.
62 You can see and walk through the spaces between acute angles.
63 Bond between spirit and body becomes attenuated.
64 Inanimate objects become warped and gnarled after a few hours in your presence.
65 You can see the things living inside others and behind illusions.
66 Die in 1d3 days, then get back up and continue as normal. Repeat.

Bonus!
* Something begins listening to your prayers and answering.
* Constant awareness of where the god and its children are.

Tiny Coffins Challenge: November

 Welcome back! This month's prompt is:

"deep water, cisterns, and the harvest"

Fall is my favorite time of year. The weather's beautiful, leaves are changing color, and there's all the harvest time celebrations. I try to make it up north to the Lakes at least once during the season each year. When I was little it was Lake Huron and we'd camp and fish for salmon. The past few years it's been Lake Michigan for rock hunting. Standing at the edge of a body of water that huge is peaceful in a way that's hard to describe. A view of nothing but water across the entire horizon. It's beautiful enough to make you forget just how many ships and people the Lakes have swallowed over the centuries.

Two-Part Potions

Most potions are pre-mixed concoctions with an indefinite shelf life. These ones are extremely volatile and have to be stored as separate reagents until they're ready to be used, then you mix them together and stand back. They're perfectly safe if you follow the directions and are careful. Really. Don't worry about it.

Casting Putty (Copy Paste)
Comes in a kit containing: 1 mixing cup, 1 stir stick, 1 gallon jug of liquid putty precursor (Cherenkov blue), 1 eyedropper bottle of curing reagent.
Fill the mixing cup with liquid putty to the fill line and add exactly 7 drops of curing reagent. Stir until the mixture becomes thick and gray, then pour over the item you want to make a mold of. The putty will spread itself evenly over the object and harden into a thin, translucent shell before cracking away in neat sections.
To create your castings remove the original object and reassemble the shell sections. The empty mold-shell will create a superficially perfect duplicate of the original object in any material you request. It cannot reproduce internal structures or moving parts. One mold-shell can produce 1d12 duplicates before crumbling to dust. Each kit has material to create 6 mold-shells.

Onmihesive
Packaged in metal boxes with hinged lids and two compartments. One holds a screw-lid can of glue and the other a small atomizer bottle of catalyst.
Coat the surfaces you want to bond with a thin layer of glue using the brush on the inside of the can's lid. Spray the surfaces with catalyst, then press together and hold in place until cured.
Omnihesive creates a literally unbreakable bond, gloves are highly recommended. Open time is 6 seconds.

Hypermelt
Distributed in flexible plastic tubes protected inside a heavy-duty metal outer tube with a screw-off top. The inner tube contains a soup of reagents and sealed glass ampules of catalyst. One end is prominently marked with arrows, indicating the plastic there is thinner, designed to dissolve first so you can direct the acid spray.
Remove the inner tube from the outer metal casing and activate it by bending it until the glass ampules crack. (Be sure to break them all for best results.) Shake until warm, then point the end marked with arrows at the object you want to destroy. If the tube doesn't start spraying acid within 10 seconds or becomes uncomfortably hot, drop it and run.
Hypermelt is an aggressive, explosive acid that will dissolve practically anything, even magic, and the few things it can't destroy it corrodes into ruin. Don't touch the residue, don't breathe the fumes. Gloves are useful for moral support, but functionally useless. One tube can dissolve up to 100 cubic feet of material.

Mixtanium (Viridian Stuff)
Packaged as two sticks of clay, 1 yellow (2lb) and 1 blue (1lb), wrapped in resealable plastic film inside a plastic tube.
Mix 1 part blue to 2 parts yellow until soft and evenly green. Apply to the item you want to mend and/or sculpt as desired and allow to cure.
Mixtanium is a space-filling adhesive putty that can be easily shaped and is indestructible once cured. The cured putty isn't magical, but reacts to detection spells as if it were. Curing time is 12 minutes. Harmful if swallowed.

Orange Stuff (Liquid Dragon)
Comes in a sturdy cardboard box. Two bricks of firm clay, 1 red (12oz) and 1 yellow (12oz), individually wrapped in reusable metal foil.
Mix equal amounts of red and yellow until evenly orange and warm. Apply to the surfaces you want to weld, press together (clamp if necessary), and retreat to a safe distance.
Orange Stuff is a self-igniting pyrotechnic compound used for welding in remote locations. It burns hot as dragonfire and will weld any metal (or slag anything else). It works underwater and cannot be smothered. Do not use in enclosed spaces. Wash hands thoroughly after use. Working time from activation to ignition is 6 minutes.

Why Bottles?

The default form for potions is a drinkable liquor in a small glass bottle, like a vintage medicine bottle. The description of the liquid and bottle's decoration can be anything, but usually it still boils down to some sort of liquid-in-a-tiny-bottle. It doesn't have to be though. Instead:

This potion is (in a)… (d20)
1 Perfume/cologne
2 Lip balm
3 Eye drops
4 Snuff
5 Blotting paper
6 Syringe
7 Inhaler
8 Breath spray
9 Gel capsules
10 Lozenges
11 Gummies
12 Juice box
13 Milk carton (individual serving)
14 Can (carbonated)
15 Wine bottle (3 servings)
16 Amphora (12 doses)
17 Lidded styrofoam cup (served hot)
18 Thermos
19 Plastic bag with a straw
20 Honeycomb

Taxidermied Animals

Need a stuffed critter for a curio cabinet, parlor decor, or just general odd treasure? I got you covered.

Quality (d36)

11 There's no hint this was ever an animal
12 Can't tell what animal it was
13 You feel embarrassed for the animal
14 Terrible
15 Bad
16 Kind of unsettling
21 A little rough around the edges
22 Acceptable
23 Clearly made with a lot of care by a beginner
24 Good, but the eyes are wrong
25 Good
26 Well-made but with subtly wrong proportions
31 Skillful
32 Incredible
33 A remarkably fluid and natural composition
34 A masterpiece
35 Are you sure it's not actually alive?
36 I swear it just moved!

How are they posed? (d66)

11 Head trophy mount
12 Skull only
13 Skeleton only
14 Hide only
15 Preserved in a jar
16 Standing
21 Standing on two legs
22 Sitting
23 Stretching
24 Laying down
25 Sleeping
26 Lying in wait
31 Jumping
32 Pouncing on another animal
33 Chasing another animal
34 Eating another animal
35 Roaring
36 Playing
41 Flying
42 Doing circus tricks
43 Juggling knives
44 Dancing
45 Driving
46 Wearing a suit
51 Giving a lecture to an audience
52 Lying in a suitable coffin
53 Playing in an orchestra
54 Playing cards
55 Playing charades
56 On a game show
61 Attending a dinner party
62 Reading
63 Dueling
64 Jousting
65 Fighting a battle
66 Made into tasteless furniture

Animals (d666)

111 Aardvark
112 Albatross
113 Alpaca
114 Anglerfish
115 Anole
116 Anteater
121 Ant
122 Axolotl
123 Badger
124 Banana slug
125 Barracuda
126 Bat
131 Bearded dragon
132 Beaver
133 Bigfoot
134 Bighorn sheep
135 Bird-eating spider
136 Bison
141 Black bear
142 Blue whale
143 Bluebird
144 Boar
145 Bobcat
146 Bullfrog
151 Bumblebee
152 Buzzard
153 Camel
154 Canary
155 Cane toad
156 Capybara
161 Cassowary
162 Cat
163 Cheetah
164 Chickadee
165 Chicken
166 Chimpanzee
211 Chinchilla
212 Chipmunk
213 Chupacabra
214 Cicada
215 Coati
216 Cobra
221 Cockroach
222 Coconut crab
223 Condor
224 Cormorant
225 Cow
226 Coyote
231 Crab
232 Crane
233 Crayfish
234 Crocodile
235 Crow
236 Cuttlefish
241 Deep sea isopod
242 Deer
243 Dikdik
244 Dog
245 Dragonfly
246 Duck
251 Eagle
252 Echidna
253 Eel
254 Egret
255 Elephant
256 Elk
261 Emu
262 Ermine
263 Ferret
264 Flying fox
265 Fox
266 Garter snake
311 Gazelle
312 Gecko
313 Gerbil
314 Giant clam
315 Giant hornet
316 Giant squid
321 Gila monster
322 Goat
323 Goldfinch
324 Goose
325 Gorilla
326 Green heron
331 Grizzly bear
332 Grouper
333 Hare
334 Hawk
335 Hellbender
336 Hognose snake
341 Horny toad
342 Horse
343 Horsefly
344 Human
345 Hummingbird
346 Hyena
351 Ibex
352 Ibis
353 Iguana
354 Jackalope
355 Jaguar
356 Jellyfish
361 Jumping spider
362 Kingfisher
363 Kiwi
364 Koala
365 Lemur
366 Leopard frog
411 Leopard seal
412 Lion
413 Llama
414 Lobster
415 Loris
416 Lynx
421 Manatee
422 Manta ray
423 Mink
424 Mola
425 Monitor lizard
426 Monkey
431 Moose
432 Moray
433 Mountain goat
434 Mouse
435 Mudpuppy
436 Narwhal
441 Nautilus
442 Newt
443 Nutria
444 Ocelot
445 Octopus
446 Okapi
451 Orb weaver
452 Orangutan
453 Orca
454 Oryx
455 Ostrich
456 Otter
461 Owl
462 Ox
463 Painted turtle
464 Panda
465 Parrot
466 Peacock
511 Peccary
512 Penguin
513 Pheasant
514 Pike
515 Pillbug
516 Pine marten
521 Platypus
522 Poison dart frog
523 Polar bear
524 Porpoise
525 Possum
526 Preying mantis
531 Pronghorn
532 Pufferfish
533 Puma
534 Python
535 Quail
536 Rat
541 Raccoon
542 Rattlesnake
543 Rhinoceros
544 Rhinoceros beetle
545 Robin
546 Salmon
551 Scarab
552 Sea cucumber
553 Sea turtle
554 Sea urchin
555 Seagull
556 Seahorse
561 Sealion
562 Serval
563 Shark
564 Sheep
565 Shrike
566 Skink
611 Sloth
612 Snail
613 Snapping turtle
614 Snow leopard
615 Softshell turtle
616 Sparrow
621 Sperm whale
622 Spider crab
623 Spring peeper
624 Squirrel
625 Starfish
626 Stickbug
631 Sturgeon
632 Sunbear
633 Swallow
634 Tarantula
635 Tiger
636 Toad
641 Tortoise
642 Treefrog
643 Vole
644 Vulture
645 Walrus
646 Whelk
651 Wild turkey
652 Wildebeest
653 Wolf
654 Wombat
655 Woodchuck
656 Woodpecker
661 Wren
662 Yak
663 Zebra
664 Chimera - Roll x2 and combine
665 Chimera - Roll x3 and combine
666 Two-headed [roll again]

Guardian Trees

The Coin Tree

A holy cypress, the eldest tree in a sacred grove, stands a short walk off the road. Over the centuries generations of travelers and locals have driven a fortune of coins into the trunk and lower branches for luck. Its bole glimmers in the sunlight that filters through the canopy, more metal than wood. Below the soil its roots are carved with sigils that can still be made out, if the leaf litter is cleared away and one takes the time to decipher the healed scars left on the bark.

The coin tree is studded with 7000 GP worth of coins in mixed currencies. They can be retrieved if you spend a month prying them out of the wood, or the raw metal can be collected from the ashes if you cut the tree down and burn it.

The tree is a fairly famous shrine. Locals and travelers passing by will attack anyone defacing it.

Killing the tree will wake and free the malicious entity it was imprisoning. The entity will feel indebted to whoever releases it and will try to fulfill one minor wish. If you don't use the wish immediately, it will follow you until you do. If you don't use the wish within a month, the entity will become aggressive and start trying to force you to wish so it can discharge its debt.

The wish will be fulfilled in the spirit it's intended, no monkey's paws.

Once the wish is granted and the entity is completely freed it will roam, spreading chaos and indiscriminately slaughtering anything in its path. There's a good chance it will come after the ones who released it because they know what it is and where it came from.

The Entity

Amorphous shadow form. 8 HD, gains 1 HD with each kill. Fear gaze attack, grappling tentacles, 1d12 slashing attack. 3 attacks per turn, +5 to hit, move 50'.

The entity can be sealed away by creating a new holy tree. The party must discover the sigils carved into the roots of the original tree, replicate them on another living tree, and force (or trick) the entity to touch it. As soon as the entity touches the holy tree it will be safely imprisoned again.

The Rag Tree

A gnarled, knotty hawthorn growing on the shore of a perfectly clear spring. Its branches are tied with bright ribbons and strips of cloth, left as offerings for healing or charms against misfortune.

Once a month you can cure a wound or lift a curse by leaving an offering on the tree. Tie a piece of cloth onto a branch and prick a finger on one of the thorns (1d4 damage). By the end of the next day you'll be healed.

If you can remove one of the cloths without being pricked by any thorns (DEX save), it will act as an amulet against whatever misery it was offered to cure. Its power lasts for a month once removed from the tree and will protect its bearer three times. It visibly wears and becomes tattered as it ages or is used.

Protects Against:

1. Poison
2. Harm (wounds)
3. Sickness
4. Paralysis
5. Ambush
6. Death
7. Theft
8. Curses
9. Haunting (incorporeal things)
10. Fear
11. Scrying
12. Possession (and mind control)

Damaging the tree in any way will unleash the stored curses on the vandals, one after another. Gain a new random curse each month. The curses stack and cannot be removed with offerings to the tree.

The Iron-Bound Oak

A massive hollow oak bound in iron bands and chains to keep the sundered trunk from splitting further and falling to pieces. A thick ring of black iron is set in the earth five feet out from the trunk and supports a simple iron post and chain fence that circles the tree to keep people back. The townsfolk have many conflicting stories about the tree but they all agree that you don't go there at night, don't touch the iron, and if something calls to you from within the hollow, don't answer.

The grove where the iron-bound oak grows is an hour walk outside of town. It and the surrounding woods are peaceful, but subtly wrong. There are no wild animals within a quarter mile of the tree. Domesticated animals will refuse to go beneath the oak's branches.

Passing beyond the iron chain and going into the trunk has a chance of transporting you to another plane or an alternate reality.

Time Entering Trunk Transported Elsewhere (roll d% under)

Day                  36

Night              51

Dusk or Dawn          76

Full or New moon         100 (Bon voyage!)

Returning through the tree is possible only on the full and new moons. (Roll d% under 3 to return.)

Sometimes things emerge from the tree and are trapped inside the circle of the chain fence. They will ask anyone present to help them get out. Mortals who answer or speak to them are enthralled (WIS save) and forced to switch places with them inside the tree.

Maintaining the iron bands and fence circle is a traditional part of the town's summer festival. The ritual work is done at high noon on the solstice and has been performed faithfully every year for as long as anyone can remember. The idea of not inspecting the tree or even delaying the festival by a day is horrifying to the townsfolk, though none of them are able to explain exactly why.

Tiny Coffins Challenge: October

 Welcome back! This month's prompt is:

"cool nights, bonfires, and the full moon"

Campfires are a family tradition. I learned how to build, light, keep, and safely extinguish fires almost as soon as I was big enough to carry a bucket of water. Growing up we had a dug-in fire circle in the backyard that we used constantly. Build a fire, let it burn down and cook dinner over the coals, then build it back up at sunset and relax while watching the bats fly. I miss it now that I've moved away. There's no place to responsibly light and feed a fire around here.