Why the name DungeonCasual?

Years ago I became fascinated with the idea of an Art-Punk, DIY version of D&D. I'd become frustrated with 3.x derived D&D such as my old group's Pathfinder game. We'd abandoned our previous games of D&D 4th Ed & WHFRP 3rd Ed. 

After a TPK in Pathfinder I decided to bow out of the group. I didn't want to be "that guy" sitting at the table complaining about balance or mechanics. And my play style was obviously drifting away from that of the DM & I didn't want there to be conflict. 

So, I took the opportunity to read my gaming connection, to start collecting new games, & to really think about ideas that have been floating around inside my head for a while. 

One of the things I was thinking was entertaining unpopular ideas & games. 

I picked AD&D 2nd Edition because it seemed neglected by the OSR overall. There is the For Gold & Glory game, which I intend to purchase someday. There was the debacle of the Myth & Magic game, which married 3.x concepts with those from 2nd Ed, but things went horribly wrong. 

Another concept that fascinated me was using the "wrong game" to do campaigns. For example I've been wanting to do Planescape with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer rpg. 

But DungeonCasual came out of a tongue in cheek reference to DungeonPunk & Business Casual. I'll admit that I love the ridiculous visuals of DungeonPunk art. I was always on the periphery of Goths & Punks & the Death Metal scenes. My wife was a Goth. 

But I've spent the majority of my life in dead end Office Space like jobs. There the rule of the day seems to be a universal Business Casual dress code. And it is ridiculous. It sucks the life out of me. I wanted to do something cheeky to poke fun at my day job environment & celebrate the wackier side of my gaming hobby. 

Thus: DungeonCasual 

On Being Emotionally Invested (Potentially Too Much)

Hello! This is my first blog post and it’s going to be awkward because I’m trying not to spoil gameplay you haven’t heard yet. Apologies in advance because we’re leaving the well researched and clearly phrased type of posts that Caelson excels at and entering emotion land! You’ve been warned.

I started RPG gaming officially in 2017 while pregnant with my daughter, who you frequently hear screaming in the background of some episodes. At that time I was an emotional mess due to hormones and my own personal blend of crazy. However since giving birth and processing some things and medicating the crazy I am still a very emotional gamer. I don’t know if it’s because I had a very solitary childhood spent playing pretend in the woods around my house, or due to my love for transportive books that I can fall into and escape my mundane reality. Whatever it is, it makes me feel maybe a little too invested. But I can’t stop.

During our last session I constantly referred to Pete and Badger as “my boys.” I’m constantly referring to Sabine as “bae.” Even Dumbass Donnie gets a little sympathy in my eyes. I can’t help but feel like these characters which all sound eerily like Caelson are real parts of my life.

However an alternative struggle is that I am putting far too much of myself in Zabella. My own cautious anxiety colors a lot of my moves. I’m going to be working on some character building exercises that I’ll post here. A bit of creative process in fleshing out the character and making her feel a little less like the cute half elf version of my self. We’ll see how that goes and hopefully as we continue in game play from this point she’ll start to feel as real as the characters she’s grown to call family.

For those looking for insight and advice in creating a character I plan on putting my own attempts here and also posting things I find from other gamers I admire. There’s going to be a bit of a return to my theatrical roots. Remembering of training I’ve taken and forgotten and hopefully finally putting that Bachelor of Arts degree to good use.

Stay tuned my good nerds.
-FP

Inclusio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius

This is a legal term that means roughly: to incluse one thing is to exclude another. To put it another way, when it comes to lists of things in statutes or rules, the list itself excludes alternative ideas which are not on the list. To include is to exclude. 

This is part of why I don't like 3.x style feats & 4th Edition style powers in practice. The more things you roll into the idea of a class of an enumerated feat/power the less idea space you leave for people to just wing it in play. 

This is one thing I think the OSR gets right with minimalist rules systems. It leaves the mental space open for on the fly rulings at the table, minimizing the battles between GM & a rules lawyer. 

Now, I've played a ton of 3.x, Pathfinder 1e, & 4th Edition. When the designers make a thing like the feat Cleave, only characters with the feat can do the things that feat says. In 4th Edition, once the dailies & encounters were expended there was a feeling that you were left to helplessly flail with at-will abilities because you felt like there wasn't anything else mechanically you could do. 

I loved those games but that was frustrating as a player. 

I actually like ideas like the stunt mechanic in AGE games. It moves those discrete mechanics off the character sheet, out of the class, & into a place where anyone can theoretically reach. It's not a flawless idea but it does make me think of ways to improve along those lines. 

Introduction to DungeonCasual's First Campgaign

We're doing AD&D 2nd Edition on a 1:1 basis, one DM & one player.  D&D, however, is largely based on the assumption of a party.  It can be run with a solo PC & DM, but both player & DM need to wrap their head around the game differently than many people have been doing of late.

I had an idea while reading Black Streams: Solo Heroes (free on DriveThruRPG).  As much as I liked some of the ideas in Solo Heroes, I was starting to think different directions.  I was thinking about posts on rpg.net about how some facets of D&D were inspired by swashbuckling movies.  Then, I remembered And All For One! by Eureka Miniatures.  I started to imagine D&D, but with the action economy inspired by Eureka's Musketeers game.

Ruckus Dice (Swashbuckling Actions for Solo PC & DM Games)

1.  Everyone gets their normal actions per round, according to the RAW. 
2.  For every action beyond the norm in a round, a Player may roll 1d6.  If they roll a 1, the PC yields the initiative, and the DM gets to take a single action with all the NPCs and Monsters in line of sight.  
3. If the Player does not roll a 1, the Player may continue, adding an additional d6 for each additional action that is taken, until a 1 is rolled.  (E.g., 2d6 for the second action, 3d6 for the third, etc.)  
4. This may be done up to three times a round. 

Interrupts & Reactions (Stealing the Initiative)

Basically, D&D came out of wargames.  And, it appears, many of the first roleplayers were wargamers as well.  I've been reading a lot about wargames that have a reaction mechanic (Crossfire, Force On Force, Chain Reaction, Infinity), instead of an "I Go You Go" round structure.  These wargames often have a more organic flow to them, more like you'd expect in a boxing match, or a swashbuckling movie.

When the actor PC or NPC in a fight does something which would provoke a reaction, the reacting character gets a chance to take one or more actions, stealing the initiative away. The Player doesn't have to roll for this, such as with the Ruckus Dice above.  It is an automatic free reaction. 

Examples of actions which provoke a reaction roll:

• Kill the Squishy: Casting a spell next to a character within melee distance.  
• Ignoring Tactical Movement: 
• Moving within 5' of a creature.  
• Moving in front of the line of fire of an archer character.  
• Riposte: Rolling a 1 to 4 on their attack roll.  

I'm still thinking of staying close to some of the central ideas in the Kevin Crawford games.  But, I'm thinking of doing variations like using a Parry or Shield Block mechanic which is a reverse of the Fray Die. 

Challenges & Plans

Our podcast is now into double digits of plays across multiple platforms. 

This is an amazing fact to me.  There was a time where I didn't think this project would go anywhere but my head.  FiberPunk has been an amazing partner, and brings an entire suite of talents that I would have otherwise had to learn myself. 

There have been several things slowing us down from regular recordings.  We've faced family tragedies, the oppressive schedules of holiday gaming, and the constant threat of seasonal illnesses.  None of those are fun things individually, much less as a whole. 

Plans:
I'm going to plan out a few solo projects that I can fire up every time we catch a week where we can't record for the podcast.  This could mean something like doing Rangers of Shadow Deep, or another solo gaming friendly thing. 

I'm also considering doing modeling projects again.  This is ... touchy.  I'm already paying for Fantasy Grounds to game with FiberPunk, but I miss painting minis & modeling terrain.  But, I also have some ideas for how to do this in a way that minimizes fuss as a GM.