Critical Hit Table (Yes, Another One)

There are a lot of critical hit tables out there, some where around one critical hit table per 2.375 gamers.  Well for my Into the Dark Land campaign I made another.  I like my critical hits to mean something, but keeping it simple.  Splishy. splashy when the halberd hits the goblin guts.

1. Maximum Damage
2. Roll Double Normal Damage, roll normal damage the x2*
3. Roll Double Normal Damage, roll twice as many damage dice*
4. Exploding Dice
5. Exploding Dice
6. Roll Random Hit Location - if damage does more than half the creature's max hit points that limb/head is severed
7. Roll Random Hit Location - hit location is crippled, if the head is hit that the person/creature is blind
8. Add 1d4 to Damage
9. Add 1d6 to Damage
10. Add 2d6 to Damage
11. Horrible Wound, this wound continues to do d6 of damage each round until healed
12. Target is Knocked Unconscious
13. Blow Through - if there is another target within striking range the player may attack again
14. Increase Damage by One Die Type (a d4 would be a d6, a d6 into a d8 ect...)
15. Roll Normal Damage, but Reroll All 1s
16. Roll Normal Damage, but Reroll All 1s
17. Knock Opponent Back 1 Square for Every 4hp of Damage
18. Add 1d10 to Damage
19. Add 1d12 to Damage
20. Roll Twice On This List

*Strength Bonus and Magical Bonuses to damage are only counted once.

I'll post the Critical Failure table later on when I can format it to the blog.  It went all wonky when I tried to paste it in.  My players haven't even seen this chart so it will give them something to look forward to next week.

What Gaming Stuff I've Been Tinkering With

I'm stilling tinkering around with publishing a couple adventurers I have in the final stages, but found out one of them has an outdated map.  Rob Conley redid the map, but can't seem to find the final edited version.  I did a lot of renumbering and editing to have the adventure make more sense...I think.  So when Rob get back from vacation I'll see if he still has a copy.

My second adventure in the final stages is being a pain in the ass to layout.  I'm sure it's a simple fix, but one that eludes me at the moment.  Ivy did the artwork for this one and I think the pictures came out pretty well. 

For some reason I have been playing around with harpies.  I decided to mess with my own version of a monster manual.  I came up with a couple variations to mess with.  I'll probably post them later in the week.  I did a lot of research of the mythology and several of the existing gaming books on harpies including James Mal's Slayers Guide.  I jotted notes of the stuff I wanted to include on a note card and then filled in the gaps as I wrote about the harpies.

I've also been reading over the Dragon Age RPG books and I really like some of what they have.  Still fooling around with my own campaign world I really like the random table of advantages a character gets for belonging to a culture.  Plus, I think overall a 3d6 system is more suited to my tastes.  Being a huge GURPS fan for many years its not hard to imagine. 

The other think I've been writing about is critical hits.  This one was inspired from the session where we play tested Goodman Games new old school version game.  In his game I think the idea of the critical hit was good, but not the execution.  What I am mulling over is different classes would have different critical hit dice.  A fighter gets to roll a d20 where as a cleric rolls a d12, a thief a d10 and the mage classes would get to roll a d6.  This is only for armed combat not spells.  Of course the higher the number the more potent the critical will be.  But that means coming up with a 20+ list of effects.  Not enough brain power to attempt that yet.  And I am sure I will find a ton of critical hit lists that I can scavenge from.

Still waiting on my Swords & Wizardry book, hoping it was sent out in the last mailings and wondering if the rumors of the Castle Keeper's Guide are true.  The latter one I've waited for, for so long that I am almost indifferent about it now.  But not quite indifferent.  If the rumors be true than I am sure I will get it down the line. 

Have a good one. 

Critical Hit Table(s)

Over at the Grand Tapestry, Timeshadows has been discussing what kind of critical hit table she should use. I voted for a descriptive table. Since the group I game with play GURPS so we use their critical hit table. It has got to be the worse crit hit table of all time. The majority of your crit hits will do normal damage only. How boring. At minimum I think a crit hit should do double damage. And if the system allows it, have some type of effect.

I dug around in my ancient vault of gaming stuff and found the critical hit table the group I played with loved. I still think it's the best table. It says First Book of Dragonquest, Page 28 across the top. I don't remember ever having or playing Dragonquest or any of my friends having it yet it is the best Grevious Wound collection. This kind of crit table will only work with non specific hit location combat. If your system (like GURPS) has you aiming at body parts then it won't fit.

Here are a few of my favorite although all of them have a sarcastic Monty Python tone to them and you can't have enough sarcastic Brits in your game. #10 Your aorta is severed and you are quite dead. Rest assured your compatriots will do their best to console you widow(er). #13-14 On a roll of 1, the weapon has entered your brain and terminated your miserable existence. One wound will make you look more roguish and increase your attractiveness. But when we used this table the favorite would seemed to be, not the instant killers, but #98-00, crushing the pelvic bone. For some reason we all thought that was the funniest. I have no idea why now.

Also, when I was digging through my ancient vault of gaming stuff I found (I believe) is the original critical hit table that came with the first d30s. Someone out there correct me if I am wrong. d30s were cool when they first came out, but the damn things would never stop rolling.