Converting AS&SH's Rats in the Walls to 13th Age

Rats in the Walls for 13^th Age

In thinking about ways to use the modules for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea I realized I could—assuming that my group won’t experiment with a cool OSR ruleset—just convert the modules to some other system that holds everyone’s interest. 13^th Age has been bandied about, so hey, why not?

Rats in the Walls is a short introductory module published by North Wind Adventures. You can get it here, The details below provide specific necessary mechanical conversions of monsters to 13^th Age to run the module for a party of 4-5 level 1 PCs.

Alternatively, this provides a range of entertaining giant and possessed rat stats for any old low-level 13th Age game you'd like to drop them in!

Kiloplo Vheez

Level  2 Caster [humanoid-hyperborean]

Initiative +4

AC 18; PD 13; MD 15; HP 36

Battle Axe +7  vs. AC ; 9 damage

Burning Hands +6 vs. PD (all adjacent and engaged foes); 7 fire damage

Sleep  +7 vs. MD (up to 75 HP of nearby enemies targeted); target falls unconscious (Save 16+ ends)

Web +7 vs. PD (up to 3 nearby targets); each target is immobilized (save 16+ ends)

Giant Rat Mooks

Level  0 Vermin [animal]

Initiative +5

AC 16; PD 14; MD 10; HP 5

Filthy Gnawing Attack +5  vs. AC ; 3 damage; on 16+ target must make a save vs. disease (save 11+) or succumb to wasting disease; each day make a new save; two saves and the PC recovers. Four failures and the PC dies of the disease; take a cumulative -1 modifier to attacks and skill checks for each failure).

Big Boss Rat

Level  1 Vermin [animal]

Initiative +5

AC 17; PD 15; MD 11; HP 27

Filthy Gnawing Attack +6  vs. AC ; 5 damage; on 16+ target must make a save vs. disease (save 11+) or succumb to wasting disease; each day make a new save; two saves and the PC recovers. Four failures and the PC dies of the disease; take a cumulative -1 modifier to attacks and skill checks for each failure).

Daemon Rat

Level 3 Vermin [fiend]

Initiative +6

AC 19; PD 17; MD 16; HP 95

Disease-Ridden Bite +8 vs. AC; 21 damage; on 16+ target must make a save vs. disease (save 15+) or succumb to wasting disease; each day make a new save; two saves and the PC recovers. Four failures and the PC dies of the disease; take a cumulative -1 modifier to attacks and skill checks for each failure).

Rat Summoning Each round roll a D6. If you roll equal to or under the Escalation Die number then 1D6 giant rat mooks arrive to assist the daemon rat.

Other Notes on converting the module:

Skeleton Halberdiers

Use the Skeleton Warriors from 13th Age, but one of them has a +1 Halberd (large weapon that deals 7 damage).

Magic items Notes

Most magic items in the module can be used as-is (such as the potion of healing and potion of cure disease). A potion of invisibility grants the imbiber invisibility for 1 hour, but he is revealed the moment he attacks or casts a spell.

Difficulty Class Notes:

Anytime an extraordinary feat of strength or other action is called for, the GM can assume a DC 15 for the challenge to succeed. It is suggested that to stick to old school tradition that the GM grant a win in cases where keen investigation/observation on the part of the PCs would reveal secrets and clues without needing a roll.

Back to Savage Space!

Yeah....despite what I was thinking, our group went with Savage Worlds SF last Saturday. So luckily I had all of that along with me (I came more or less prepared for AS&SH, 13th Age and Savage Worlds) and worked out a scenario while everyone rolled some new PCs.

Savage Worlds is always fun to play. The swingy dice and vital nature of the bennies always surprise me when I return to SW after an absence, but the incredibly swift play mechanics make up for it. I'm not sure I would get any less of an experience out of using --say-- White Star, but as I put it, "Savage Space is a hard space opera setting with a modicum of seriousness swirled in with the action," whereas my White Star campaign was clearly a "let's see what a gonzo anything-goes-kitchen-sink SF campaign looks like.

I was planning to show off "WOIN," the What's Old Is New RPG from EnWorld Publishing but completely forgot to bring it. Next time....definitely. It's a more nuanced system, not necessarily more complex but provides more detail; it's mechanically around D&D 5E in complexity feel, I think. I'll post more about it soon....it's currently in the running for "systems I might actually GM soon."

Anyway, I had done a lot of prep for AS&SH so I was mildly disappointed that the group didn't go that direction.....people in the group had the following reasons not to: 1. and SF option was on the table and they really wanted to try that; 2. selling AS&SH as "a refined and specialized AD&D" was discouraging about 2/3rds of the group who are apparently not as OSR-hip as I might have thought; and 3. No one had a copy of the rules, unlike Savage Worlds, which despite my assurances that ownership wasn't a requisite didn't really work out so well. Ah well, another time.

I'll just say that I really like the Ghost Ship of the Desert Dunes module, and plan to run this one way or another....even if I have to adapt it to D&D 5E or 13th Age or something.  Jeff Talanian's writing style is exactly what I like in a published module.

Saturday Looms....What Will We be Playing....

I've thrown a lot of ideas out to my Saturday group as we prepare for a new phase of gaming. I'm thinking, though, that I know what I'm going to run. I feel like a "fantasy, but different" mood. Not necessarily a "rules" different, but a "weird setting" sort of different.

Mythras and Classic Fantasy is on hold until I get the book sometime in June. After that, it's probably what I'll push for next campaign on Wednesday.

13th Age continues to intrigue me....and may well end up being what we play, but I'm pushing hard to see if people will give......Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea a shot. I've got a real interest in running AS&SH straight up, using the setting in the core boxed set as-is*, with the modules published so far --which means starting with Rats in the Walls since it's the only level 1 adventure for the game I have.

But 13th Age has a lot of interest, too. I admit....the only issue holding me back from fully jumping back to 13th Age right now is my current dislike of the onerous icons system, which is both cool and limiting in weird ways. People do run 13th age without the icons, or mitigating their relevance....but really, I feel like they're sufficiently important to the game's flavor that it makes more sense to save it for when I am feeling inspired.

But the weird classes, world and entities of AS&SH? Those are inspiring me a lot right now....

*The minimalist setting is perfect, just enough to jump into with, but not too much to hamper my own development of the Lands of the North Wind.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperboria: Corvus the Grim

I finally have AS&SH in print, in its gorgeous little box with spiral-bound tomes within. The system is AD&D with lots of refinement...I really like it. The flavor is exotic, captures the feel of the pulp sorcery and sword genre remarkably well, and evokes the ghost of Howard, Ashton-Smith, Carter, Wagner and others quite handily. Anyway, if you're interested in what a typical AS&SH character looks like, here's my first: a ranger, ready to head off in to the world to die at the claws of Yithians or worse. Note that the ranger is one of a very modest number of core classes you'll recognize...there are a lot of interesting subclasses in AS&SH; it's part of the "options heavy" genre of OSR titles, which I really like.

Name: Corvus the Grim (“Grimcrow”)

Ixian (human) male, Chaotic Good, Ranger Level 1

Attribute             Test/Feat

STR         17           4:6/32%                +1 to hit, +2 damage

DEX        14           3:6/8%                  +1 missile attack

CON       15           3:6/15%                +1 HPA, +1 poison Adj.

INT         11                                           

WIS        10

CHA       12

Hit Dice: 1D10   Hit Points: 11   Fighting Ability: 1     THAC0: 19   Attack Rate 1/1

Saving Throw:   16           Modifiers: +2 vs. death, +2 vs. transformation

Armor:  Scale Mail            AC: 6      DR: 1

Ranger Abilities: Alertness (-1), Ambusher (3:6), Discern Noise (4:12), Hide (5:12), Move Silently (5:12), Otherworldly Enemies (+1 dmg/level), Tracking, Track Concealment, Traverse Overgrowth, Weapon Mastery (scimitar, +1 to hit and damage, 3/2 attack), Wilderness Survival

Secondary Skills: guard/watchman

Languages: Common, Thracian

Weapons:

Scimitar (1D10+3 damage 2-H style, +2 attack)

Short Bow (1D6 damage, +1 attack)

Quiver with 24 arrows

Equipment:

Backpack, fishing hook (12), fishing line, soft leather pouch, 50 ft hemp rope, leather scabbard, 5 torches, waterskin, leather belt, normal boots, normal clothing, hooded heavy cloth coat

Wealth:

2 GP; 7 SP; 2 CP

Background:

Corvus the Grim, known to his comrades as Grimcrow, is an Ixian ranger who served under the monster hunter Laithos, who perished several years ago while thwarting the necromancer Sevixar. Laithos left his wisdom to Grimcrow, who while still inexperienced in hunting abominations nonetheless feels he is ready for the task. Though there are more than enough opportunities to hunt the abominations summoned by the sorcerers of Scythium in his native land, Corvus the Grim has decided to march out into the greater realm of Hyperboria in search of the most fearsome beasts from beyond the starry nights that he may slay them all, or die trying.

System Notes:

Abilities:

AS&SH uses a simpler die mechanic for physical feats, the "test of strength" as well as for Con and Dex which is a D6 roll against a target number defined by stat. It also allows a percentile roll for extreme feats, and that gets a +8% modifier if you have a class that uses that prime requisite. 

Saves:

The system uses a single save modifier, with class-specific adjustments. This is a welcome borrow from S&W.....seriously, once you see the one-save mechanic in action it's hard to go back.

Armor Class:

AS&SH also uses descending armor class, but employs a "Fighting Ability" value which determines the column you look up your hit chart on. The hit chart appears to be consistent with the THAC0 concept for purposes of easy notation.....so the method in AS&SH is to Roll 1D20, add your bonuses to hit for the weapon and strength, and then see how close you get to THAC0 (or look up your chart). EX: Corvus rolls a 17 to hit, adds 3 for his scimitar skill (due to weapon mastery plus strength) and gets 20. he knows he hit AC -1 then, because his THAC0 is 19, so his THAC-1 would be 20. Later he rolls a 13, plus 3, for 16....so he knows he hit AC 3 (THAC0 19 minus 16 is 3). The format means it will make explaining AC easy to players new to the concept as it keeps everything consistent.

Action Resolution:

Since AS&SH is modeling AD&D mechanically, it actually addresses an action economy (action resolution) to handle multiple attacks per round. It's interesting to see this tightly defined....I've run AD&D multiple different ways when it came to the action economy. Given I have a strong, compelling desire to sun AS&SH I'll have to think about whether I want to stick to the action resolution system as presented, or play it fast and loose like S&W White Box editions tend to.