heralds and little guys for FMC basic

 

I absolutely love FMC Basic by Marcia B. It's as beautiful for everything it leaves on the cutting room floor as everything that it includes. That said, here's a cleric and two demi-humans it intentionally omitted.

fantastic journeys, powered by BIRG

This is a hack of TFT and, to a lesser extent, GURPS. The main novelties are in the readiness/experience rules and in the injury and recovery rules. It's not quite complete, there's no list of skills or special abilities, but I think it's enough to share. Use your favorite list of skills and make up abilities if you want.

Characters have three attributes:

• Dexterity (DX), used for physical rolls
• Strength (ST), used for endurance and overpowering
• Wits (WT), used for mental rolls.

Human characters have a minimum of 8 in each attribute.

Characters succeed at difficult tasks if a roll of 4d is less than or equal to their adjusted attribute. If they have a skill specific to the task, they roll 3d instead. A roll of 4 or less always succeeds, even if the attribute is adjusted to lower than this.

If two characters are directly opposed, they both make rolls. If both would succeed, the character with the higher roll does. On an exact tie, or if both fail, they are in a deadlock.

a brief "history" of d&d, 1980-2000

(This post is fiction and not history.)

Dave Arneson's 1980 lawsuit goes to court, and Arneson is awarded not only great deal of back royalties but some damages as well. The legal battle and debt compound TSR's other financial problems and and the fledgeling company go bankrupt in late 1982. Moldvay's Basic Set is published late, and Cook's Expert Set never is.

Gygax and the Blumes spend 1983 unsuccessfully shopping the company around for a buyout. Arneson, as one of TSR's creditors, negotiates for Cook and his unpublished expert materials to be released to his company, Adventure Games.

When the "Dungeons and Dragons" trademark lapses in 1984, grimoire games, desperate to sell to a wider audience, republishes its Arduin material as Grimoire Dungeons and Dragons, not as "the Arduin Adventure." The game is a success and saves the company from bankruptcy.