The Templar Variations

 It's amazing having the time and focus to work on my games again. It almost feels like a luxury.

Oh! Wait. That... that is a luxury.

Nevermind.

Anyway, one of the projects that's been on hold is my Templar class.

The Godless Priest

For those who don't know, the Templar was a pseudo-priest introduced in the Dark Sun world that gained power from dedication to a Sorceror King (rulers of the few city states scattered throughout the land).

The original 2nd Edition Templar class picked spells from the Cleric list and had fewer spell slots per day. Most of their "power" other than spells was of a political variety, which was great for RP heavy campaigns, but not for hack and slash style play. Effectively, the Templar was a weak priest until high level.

There was no official 3rd Edition Dark Sun product and the third party offerings were weird if you're kind and straight up racist bullshit if you're not. 2nd Edition was bad enough (all these desert dwellling white folks trying to free the slaves), but the 3rd Edition.. Slave Scent anyone? 

Well, the Templar there was even more RP/NPC focused with a power set that can in no way be viewed as anything other than Evil. It wasn't a good look.

4E brought Dark Sun back, but by this point the Templar had been demoted to a character Theme. This provided a few extra "thematic" powers the character had available when they wished. This did make the character more useful in combat and meant that anyone could be a Templar, irrespective of class. This was a nice addition.

The 4E theme only added powers up to 10th level, so the player would not be bound to their Sorceror King and could focus on whatever they wanted to beyond that point. With Epic Desitinies to focus on, the theme didn't have to be a defining part of the character.

Modern World Interpretations

5E has shook things up again. Despite the recent Apocalyptic Subclasses Unearthed Arcana, there are unlikely to be any plans to introduce a Dark Sun world to 5E as we've seen it before. This is possibly because the community as a whole doesn't seem to have an appetite for the themes introduced in the Dark Sun setting. Slavery, tyranny, the oppression of social class, these are not part of the modern game.

Somehow, as an outsider, this feels very similar to the US Administration removing references to slavery, inequality, and black people from Government websites and from education programs. It smacks of a bad case of whitewashing.

The old narrative, prompted primarily by the artwork, did carry a heavy "white saviour" mentality. That's problematic enough. But is it also problematic to ignore the theme of slavery entirely in our roleplaying games? Or should we be facing up to our place in history?

The Templar represents something we see often in history. Oppressors put systems in place to ensure the hegemony and sometimes even the oppressed will join that system in the hope of affording themselves protection. We shouldn't look away from that, but neither should we celebrate it.

I'll continue to develop my Templar, but I will unapologetically make it as a tool of oppression and the players can decide how they sit with that. Let them tell on themselves.

Unfun

There's an attitude in gaming at the moment of Unfun. It's quite prevelant and I'm not sure I like it. Some of it is justified: racially sensitive content has no place at my table and I would encourage others to think of what it is they are putting out and ask themselves who might be harmed by the story they're telling.

But one thing that gets me is hyper positivity. Having bad things happen to characters is becoming more and more taboo. I've heard people online talking about people retconning entire combats because a character died and they weren't having it.

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you're coming into a game where, canonically, there are creatures that can wipe out an entire town with a breath weapon, then you must accept that there are likely to be creatures that can potentially hurt your party, and maybe even kill them.

Another thing is increasingly frowned upon is "taking away player agency". There are these spells, called enchantment/charm spells, that make people behave in ways they normally wouldn't. They are, by design, supposed to usurp the will, but apparently there are players who complain about this. Why? You get to use those spells too. If you refuse to suffer the consequences, you don't get to use the spell either. There! Enchantment/Charm school is now banned.

And there starts the problem.

I have no problem with removing notions like bio-essentialism. No person is inherently better or worse than another person, and I have no issue with that, and I would also defend never forcing a player to experience something or force their character to act in a way that is likely to be a trigger or a trauma, it remains part of the game that you can be forced into a state of fear by magic.

Expecting everything to go your way all the time feels childish. Avoiding "Unfun" seems like something that should only happen at a kids' table.

Am I the problem?

It could be that I'm missing some Zeitgeist here, but I want my challenge to be challenging in game! That's the important part for me. This is all in game stuff for me. I am going into the dragon breathing, spell casting, monster infested world of dangers. I can't expect to walk out completely unscathed.

Or my character can't. I shouldn't be harmed by something I'm doing in an imaginary space for fun through a proxy character. 

Therefore, neither you

Now, am I saying you shouldn't play that way? Not at all. I think you should run your table how you see fit. But I don't think I'd be comfortable at your table.

Grim Up North

Yesterday I received the Vaesen starter set and a few books from the Kickstarter. In many ways it's a pretty standard Starter Set with basic rules, character sheets, initiative cards, "what you can do on your turn" cards, a mini bestiary and some handouts for the included adventure. 

The print quality is very good too, with full colour art, glossy covers and a nice feel to the paper. If anything is off-putting it's the shortness of everything. If the basic rules are anything to go by, the main book isn't going to have a lot in it that isn't filler. The adventure comes to 12 pages plus cover.

I'm still looking forward to running it, though. The system is based on d6 rolls and count 6s for levels of success. I'll post again when I can fully describe the experience.

On Not Gaming

 Oh, we've all been there. Life gets complicated. The older you get, the harder it is to organise everything to ensure "fun" happens, and this includes those people who KNOW that fun is important.

My Sunday game was cancelled this week because people's schedules are rarely fixed and life changes all too frequently. Some of it is driven by sensible prioritization: do I prepare for an interview for a promotion or do I go gaming with my mates? Of course you prepare for the interview. Duh!

I'm reminded of the Terry Pratchett quote: "Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened!"

Sometimes, you just want a break. My Wednesday game was also cancelled because we all chose to spend St. Patrick's Day having fun with our families instead.

Sometimes, not doing something fun is self-care. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.

Once Upon a Time...

 ... there was a God. He slept.

The End

Or is it?

Of course not.

Since I was last here, I completed a degree, got a job and took a starring role in a Pandemic. (There are 7.odd billion others who may challenge my claim of a 'starring role', but as I'm the one living THIS life, I stick with my contention and will not back down.)

So, why am I back? Well, why not. The Pandemic rolls on and it could be months yet before life returns to any semblance of "normal". I have already wasted too much of that time on other foolish things, but of late I have sloughed my bad habits, taken up running, and chosen to re-engage with the things that give me joy.

This is one of those things.

No schedules as yet, but once I enter into a rhythm You'll know as well as I. I look forward to speaking to you again.

The Dread Chaos of Normal Life

I'm finally able to return to playtesting after a short hiatus due to Australian Flu (has there ever been a British Flu, or American Flu?), university work and family commitments. I'm trying to get the balance of individual powers right.

There are few enough combat powers beyond the "cantrips" mentioned in previous articles.
Many seem somewhat utility with a few buffs and temp hit points.
I'm allowing higher level characters to boost the powers by spending multiple influence on individual powers.

So far, the balance seems fair, but this might come down to player comfort with the power level.

For the next two sessions, I'll be doing "shopping episodes", to test out the utility aspects, with the occasional head-to-head with equal level opponents, to see how things stack.

It's a Kind of Magic - Templar Powers

When designing the Templar, I wanted an alternative to the standard system of magic used in D&D. I got the feeling that, in order to provide something worthy of attention, it has to be unique. Also, to maintain the flavor of its Dark Sun origins, it had to have something unique to the condition of the power source.
 Effectively a Templar is servant of her patron King. The Templar gains power by obtaining influence with her patron. As I mentioned in the first post on this series, the power of a Templar should be roughly equivalent to a Warlock. To this end, I chose to have the Templar's influence recharge on a short rest. The amount of influence a Templar can bring to bear is equal to their level but there may be addenda in the final outing.

Structure

Powers for the Templar are based on three levels of power. Lesser powers are roughly equivalent to first level spells. It costs one point of influence to manifest a minor power. When you gain higher influence, it is possible to bump up the power to a more effective level (like spending higher spell slots).
 Minor powers are roughly equivalent to second and third level spells. Each costs 3 influence to manifest and can also be buffed up using additional influence.
 Finally, Greater powers are roughly equivalent to fourth and fifth level spells. Each costs seven influence to manifest and can be buffed using additional influence.
 The maximum buff allowed is half your level minutes one. Thus, a fourth level character can only add one buff point to a spell. This prevents a character of lower levels from creating the effects of a higher level spell.

Chide the Mind

Lesser

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As a reaction, if any creature hits you with an attack, you can glare at them balefully or shout a curse. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw or suffer 3d6 psychic damage, or half as much on a successful save. For each additional point of influence spent, the damage increases by 2d6.