Gwarwain was a Gnome. Sort of.
He was one of the faerie creature player characters of player Peter, who reveled in faeries. And in drawing all sorts of things. Instead of doing illustrations he went on to study Art History in Essex (as a Dutchman), which is still a loss to those who love pictures. Maybe he now illustrates books on the side, I don't know. Hey Peter, are you out there somewhere? Lost your address ;-)
Peters characters had one typical weird thing. They always seemed to have to die, or nearly die by fire. The same went for Gwarwain, the little illusionist. I believe he jumped burning off a pirate ship, just fireballed by an enemy. Or something like it.
My home brew system had evolved even further away from Dungeons & Dragons once Gwarwain was made. Wisdom as an ability was ditched at the time. Hit locations were added - about twenty of them, as you may see in the right hand corner of the sheet. 18 was neck, 19 face, 20 head. Each location could have its own armour. Which you could list on the sheet.
And if you could draw, like Pete, you could make your sheet shine with a dressed miniature of your hero. There were a kind of proficiencies, spell points (called "Mana"), and most of the specifics of my system at that time has slipped my mind. Can't be helped.
Anyway, still treasure this one. Another age gone bye.
Images are still copyright Peter van der Meijden, about 1986.
Update: just found him on LinkedIn!
Hi! This isn't the right place for this, but I'm new here. I'm thinking of converting my DND4E group to DD2. I love the speed, fluidity and imagination that the system encourages. I also love the use of Christianity as the base for clerical powers. I do have three questions, for starts, though.
ReplyDelete1. We have a big group. How do we do initiative with 10 pc's and 10 bad guys?
2. Are there DND conversion rules and/or a DD2 Monster Manual?
3. Shouldn't shields give you a bonus to block? Otherwise why would you
choose a shield over a left handed weapon that would give the option for the same block and optionally a second attack?
Thanks for any direction you can give me!
Hi Joshua!
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving DD2 a go! Hope you'll also like it in practice. To give you quick and dirty answers:
1. Let longest weapons go first: missile first, thrown next, then longer melee weapons
2. Have a look at the OSR Experiments posts, there are simple conversion tables there.
http://www.darkdungeon2.com/2011/05/osr-experiments-9-hit-dice-to-weapon.html
Also look at #5 & #6
3. Right so! Shields should matter! Look here:
http://www.darkdungeon2.com/2011/06/osr-experiments-19-shields-should.html
Cheers!
Thanks for the helpful hints. Just to be clear OSR 19 on shields was an add on, right? I didn't miss that in the rules, did I?
ReplyDelete@Joshua: the rules mentioned in OSR #19 were not in the Lite DD2 rules you can download. Just like a few other rules we use in the DD group, they were left out. So you can see them as an add on or plug in.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't miss them.
What great act of valor does one have to accomplish to acquire this fabled full rule set? To be honest, I'm not very valorous, but I have money and I can write. Both come in limited amounts, though.
ReplyDeleteI can certainly house rule the blanks, but I'd rather not mess up your elegant creation.
@Joshua: currently I'm working on an illustrated DD2 Basic set (Lite +), probably will finish it in august. The full set is still changing shape all the time.
ReplyDeleteBut if you like I can send you the extended skills lists and DD "house" rules of 2002; they were not meant for outside the group - but I think these are most readable - and I'd like to hear your opinion ;-).
Send me an email at sangreal AT xs4all dot nl.