Experience Point Distribution & Treasure for EP (Updated)

The carousing rules as I'd written them previously are too fiddly - specifically the EP gained vs. silver spent portion of things.  The simplification comes from the new breakdown of EP.  Of course these are just guidelines that I use when crafting adventures and even I ignore them quite often.


Where Experience Points Come From

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Encounters: 50% - monsters and traps
Loot: 15% - EP gained by spending your hard earned loot
Exploration: 15% - finding new places and creating the Hacklopedia
Story Awards: 15% - quests and the like
Being Awesome: 5% - bonus for great role playing (in additional to honor awards)


What is Treasure Worth?

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After much debate, the standard of $1 = 1ep was the easy way to go.  Limiting the amount of ep that can be gained (via the Carousing Rules) takes care of things getting too outrageous.  Now being able to accurately appraise things is more useful as is improving the salesmanship skill.


How Much Treasure Per Level?

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This one is easy.  Using the HM suggested silver per adventurer per level number plus adding 15% of the EP needed per level, I came up with a simple handy table for the estimated amount of cash to hand out each level.  They can get better stuff or spend it on good times (and ear experience) - the choice is theirs.  This is, of course, per character.

Level   Loot  1 $90 2 $180 3 $240 4 $300 5 $370

Level   Loot  6 $445 7 $525 8 $615 9 $715 10 $820

Level   Loot  11 $940 12 $1075 13 $1225 14 $1390 15 $1570

Level   Loot  16 $1765 17 $1975 18 $2200 19 $2440 20 $2695

These values will seem like a fortune - and they are supposed to.  Adventurers bring back mad piles of loot and piss them away.  The smart ones invest in better gear, contacts, a safehouse, and all the other trappings but do so at a slower rate of advancement.


Revised Carousing Rules

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In a village, roll 1d6.  In a town, roll 1d6 or 2d6.  In a city, a player may roll up to 3d6.

On each die, pip 1 - 5 indicates that treasure has been spent and experience gained.  Per pip, the treasure cost and the experience gain are shown in the table below.  For example, a roll of 3 at first level means $12 are spent for 12 EP.  For each 6 rolled, count it as a 5 having been rolled, but before gaining any experience roll on the Consequences Table.  For each pip, cross off a box on the Carousing portion of the EP section of the character sheet.  If a carousing roll goes over a total of 15 boxes (even without a 6) roll on the Consequences Table.

Level   $EP  1 4 2 8 3 10 4 12 5 15

Level   $EP  6 18 7 21 8 25 9 30 10 35

Level   $EP  11 41 12 48 13 56 14 65 15 75

Level   $EP  16 86 17 98 18 111 19 125 20 140

After the 15 boxes have been filled, players can continue to spend silver for EP, however any die roll over 3 is considered a 3 and causes a roll on the Consequences Table.

The GM ay declare that a town has been "partied out" and no more carousing is available - at least for a while.  Also, the amounts of cash required per level get quite outrageous at higher levels - the more money spent, the more noticed are the carousing antics.  More people drink more free booze - better booze, more and more exotic "pleasurable company", more bribes to officials, and the like.  Some may consider a part of their carousing costs as tithes and charity.  Whatever floats your boat.


Carousing Consequences Table

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Please note - this is a report (with some minor edits) that can be found earlier in this blog.  Just putting it all together for ease of reference.  

Jeff Rients came up with the carousing rules (and consequences) that swept the internet.  They are simple and awesome and everyone uses them.  Attempting to find some additional resources to plunder, I found this blog.  That was about it though ... people just kept reposting the same thing over and over.  I compiled what I liked, added what I felt it needed, and made the following tables.  Eventually I need to add these in because they are great results (and like the blog).  Eventually I want to make each of these d20 rolls rather than d6, but tackling too much at once is a recipe for disaster.

Consequence Type [d10]

1. Reputation [1d6]

1. Make a fool of yourself in public.  The money is spent, but no experience is gained.  Make a Feat of Charisma Check (d20p+8) or gain the reputation of a Drunken Lout.
2. You are known as the Life of the Party!  All carousing in this location costs double due to hanger's on.
3. Wake up naked in a local temple.  (1-3) the clergy is majorly pissed off (4-5) the clergy smile and thank you for dropping by (6) You are now known as a zealot in the Area and roll on The Gods consequence table.
4. They all said dressing in silly costumes was a stupid idea, but everyone is talking about it.  You gain a reputation for throwing great parties.  Gain +10% EP next time you carouse in this town.
5. You did something dubious and have the reputation as a lecherous lush.  Social interactions are now awkward at best.
6. You pick up the reputation as a mean drunk.  No one will party with you in this town, and you gain the reputation for the Area.  People are frightened of you.

2. Fighting [1d6]

1. You were involved in a brawl.  Pass a Feat of Strength check (d20p+0) or start the day with 1d4p wounds of 1d3hp each.  
2. Your shenanigans got a bit out of control and you started a fire.  Where: (1-2) you burnt down your favorite inn (3-4) a den of ill repute is burnt to ash (5-6) a big chunk of town is ablaze.  Who: (1-2) No one knows it was you (3-4) your fellow carousers know it was you (5) a probable blackmailer or tattletale knows (6) everyone knows.
3. That brawl last night put you in a badass mood!  You have 1d3 wounds of 1d3 hp and a black eye, but are +1 to attack rolls for the day.
4. You got beaten pretty badly.  Black eye, lose 1d4p teeth, 50% chance of a broken nose, and you are +3 FF for the next 1d6 days.
5. You remember being challenged to a duel, but not by who, when, or over what.  This is probably going to end badly.
6. Your duel starts in a few minutes when the sun comes up.  Everyone is watching.  It is (1) a setup and you are about to utterly humiliate some guy (2) to the death (3) to first blood (4-5) an honor duel (6) a setup and you are about to get royally humiliated.

3. Misunderstandings [1d6]

1. A minor misunderstanding with the authorities.  Pass an average Diplomacy skill check.  Success means a 1d6 x $2 fine.  Failure (or the inability to pay) means that many days in jail.  
2. You insulted a local person of rank.  Time for a hard Diplomacy skill check to get the offended party to be amenable to a public apology and reparations.  Failure ends in hard labor.
3. Major misunderstanding with the law.  1d6 weeks in jail and a fine of 2d4p x $5 and all weapons, armor, and the like are confiscated.  25% chance of a criminal tattoo.  5% chance of a jailhouse tattoo per week of incarceration.
4. Apparently someone that ugly can be married to a local magistrate.  You've been given an unpleasant task or difficult quest to make up for your cruel slurred words.
5. You somehow swapped backpacks with someone.  Lose your backpack gear and gain an equal amount of other gear (GM's choice, probably random, and a good chance of something criminal).
6. What seemed like a hilarious practical joke turned out to be in very bad taste.  You have made an enemy of a moderately powerful local personality.  Things might get hairy if you stick around.

4. Romance [1d6]

1. Save vs Poison (d20p+15) because in the candlelight, you didn't see the rash.  Fail and you've got a nasty itch (-1 to everything) for the next 2d6 weeks.  Save again each week to see if it gets better or worse.
2. The target of your lewd and advances turned out to be a witch.  Make an Average Seduction skill check.  Succeed and you have a witch that is now obsessed with you.  Fail and you have to make a saving throw vs magic (d20+11) or are turned into a swine.
3. Despite the best of intentions, you have fallen madly in love with someone and want to impress them.  75% chance they are married.  25% chance they return your affections. 100% chance other adventurers make fun of you.
4. Last night was out of this world ... literally.  Having taken up with some sort of extra planar creature you had a wild night and picked up a little gift.  You have until next season to rid yourself of the parasite (pregnancy?) or the results will be spectacular and utterly lethal.
5. You wake up next to someone who is (1-2) crazy (3-4) ugly (5-6) or both.  Let the antics ensue.
6. Someone you dallied with has fallen for you big time.  They are (more or less) sweet and innocent and want to follow you everywhere.  They are more of a hanger-on than a henchman.

5. Finance [1d6]

1. You were robbed of everything - cash, weapons, armor, gear.  Everything.  In fact, you are only wearing some dirty underwear and a strange look of defiant pride.
2. You gambled a damn lot.  Make a hard gambling skill check.  If you lose, make another carousing roll (same dice) to see how much cash you lose (no EP gained).
3. You invested all your spare cash in a smooth talking merchant scheme.  (1-3) it is bogus and you are going to lose it all (4-5) it is a scam but the local authority think you are in on it, adventurer scum! (6) holy crap - it is a real investment.  Next season you'll get your investment back plus 5d20p% more.
4. You somehow got stuck with a bar tab that wasn't yours.  Pay 30% more to cover the costs or end up spending some time in jail to think about what you did.  A skill check might get you out of jail, but not the tab.
5. You were robbed and have only your armor and favorite weapon (50% chance of keeping a shield if you had one).
6. Apparently you upset some merchants  Everything in this settlement is now 25% more expensive for your entire party.  10% increase in prices for you and your kind across the Area.

6. Painful Reminders [1d6]

1. You have the most powerful hangover ever - and a permanent low level headache.  -1d20 fractional points each to WIS and INT.
2. Might be sprained, probably broken.  -1d20 fractional points each to DEX and STR.
3. You are utterly exhausted.  +1d6 Fatigue Factor, it gets better by 1 point every week.
4. You have become addicted to something ... something terrible.  Add the addiction quirk, but it is for something worse than on the table.
5. You've broken knuckles from punching someone in the face (or a wall, or possibly yourself).  Lose the ability to fight with your (1-4) right (5-6) left hand for 1d6 weeks.
6. You stink of exotic spices, booze, and rich food.  Good luck gaining surprise on anyone for the next 2d3 days ... and be prepared to fend off hungry monsters a bit more often.

7. The Gods [1d6]

1. In a drunken stupor you begged a god for help resolving some situation.  They heard and responded.  Of course now you must complete a really hard quest before gaining any additional EP.  Also, you'd better convert or your Karma will take a hit.
2. Holy men in the Area will shun you ... apparently there are some things that all gods find irritating and you, my friend, nailed it.
3. A boozed offer to a cleric "pay you back later" is being taken up.  You have 1d12 orphans (age 2d4 each) that you need to take to the Orphanarium.  It isn't particularly close by.
4. Waking up in the temple, you blurrily review your signed document to give alms.  Give away all of your things to the poor and tithe 10% of your future wealth to the temple for the next 3 adventuring seasons.
5. You have displeased the gods ... or at least one of them.  You are probably the target of random effects, healing spells only half work on you, and if you are a cleric you'll need to atone before you can get any spells again.
6. The temple is trashed.  (1-3) You are going to get run out of town and hunted by the clerics (4-5) no one cares, but holy men may shun you in this Area (6) you get an award from the people for removing the shackles of religious oppression ... which means orgy time.

8. Mark of Shame [1d6]

1. You got a tattoo.  (1-3) It is lame (4) it is pretty cool (5) it could have been cool except for the misspelling or obvious mistake (6) it is incredibly crude and/or insulting.
2. An evil wizard has a hunk of your flesh and hair.  In addition to a bad haircut, be prepared for the worst.
3. You have a new henchman.  A jester.  He steals treasure from everyone except you and tells really terrible jokes.  You like him, but the others in the party ... not so much.
4. You have been infected with a double shadow.  Animals are terrified of you.  Children cry when they see you.  In 1d6+2 weeks the shadows will merge and murder you.
5. Your flesh starts to crack and slough.  You need to wear bandages all the time to keep it together.  Also a permanent  -1 Con and -1d4 HP.
6. For some reason, you are now a ghost magnet.  If in a haunted area, you attract ghosts like the dickens.  In a non-haunted area, you are generally considered spooky and no one really wants to hang out with you except other spooky people (who you don't like).

9. New Friends [1d6]

1. Apparently you joined or were at least initiated into (1-3) a cult (4-5) a secret society (6) a fraternity.  Pass a Feat of Intelligence (d20p+twice dice rolled for carousing) to see if you remember the signs and phrases.
2. While completely hammered you spent some time with some of the local servants and servers.  They like you, so gain a new follower!  Unfortunately, the follower's former boss is less than pleased about the situation.
3. You win a bar bet and have the services of two henchmen for a month.  They have really shitty morale and are trouble makers.  
4. You have an amazing time with an adventurer from another party.  He told you something really important ... Feat of Intelligence (2d20p) to see if you can remember.  You are also pretty sure you told him something that was supposed to be a secret.
5. A gluttonous drunk boorish friar (kind of like a 1d6th level cleric) joins your party until he loses a morale check or you have another carousing expedition.
6. You lose your favorite follower ... but now have a mangy mutt that follows you around.

10. Dungeon Bloom [1d6]

1. You felt the call in your dreams.  You've woken up in an alley covered in blood with chunks of flesh under your fingernails.  It is (1-3) morning (4-5) dawn (6) noon and you are (1-3) being stared at by a street urchin (4-5) alone (6) being prodded awake by the local authorities.
2. Someone (you?) scratched a map onto your forearm of a dungeon you have never been in before.  The lower levels are going to be trickier to carve...
3. There is a new dungeon nearby.  You can feel it trying to hide an artifact from you.  You know where it is.  Convince the others to come with you if you can ... but you will find what you are after.
4. Being in the daylight makes you kind of uneasy ... -1 or 5% to everything while you are in the sunlight.  This permanent effect lasts for 1d6 days after you leave a dungeon.
5. Roll for an physical aberration as though you received Backlash from a Spell Mishap.  No matter what the others think, you like it.  Makes you look mysterious and dangerous.  Heck, it might even be useful.
6. You saw a vision while in your carousing haze.  Of things dark and dreadful, of the underworld spreading across the cosmos, of your fate.  Gain 1 mulligan only to be used to avoid some dungeon hazard.  Until you use it the paranoia is almost overwhelming.

Spell Components for Actual Play!

I love the idea of spell components!  They can add a rich flavor to magic making it both exotic and rare; "Apparently I need a glorthak claw for this spell ... what the Hells is a glorthak and where can I find one?".  Unfortunately, most spell components are mundane (a pinch of soot, a candle) and tracking them is a total bore.  Much like encumbrance, a system that abstracts and simplifies the process of tracking spell components would be a vast improvement.  This system is designed to work with the encumbrance house rules we use in my game.

Purchase and Storage

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Spell components are purchased in lots of 20 (20 components fit into one container slot).  A lot of components is designed for a particular spell level or lower. The cost of a lot is based on the level.

Level   Cost / lot  1 $0.01 2 $0.02 3 $0.03 4 $0.05 5 $0.10

Level   Cost / lot  6 $0.15 7 $0.25 8 $0.40 9 $0.65 10 $1.00

Level   Cost / lot  11 $1.70 12 $2.70 13 $4.25 14 $6.30 15 $7.50

Level   Cost / lot  16 $10.00 17 $15.00 18 $20.00 19 $25.00 20 $30.00

Using Components

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When a wizard casts a spell requiring a general component, remove 1 component from a lot of the appropriate level.  Some spells require very specialized components and are not covered by the general spell components.  For example, the 3rd level spell Wizard Lock requires a pair of magnets costing no less than $10.

Vunterdua: the winter festival of Aldsburg

The winter in Aldsburg is long and dark.  Lady Ring of the Ramhorns weeps contstantly for her imprisoned lover the sun, her tears splashing on the spires.   Lord Vinde of the Ramhorns is always shouting at her, his cold breath freezing the lady's tears and covering the cobbles with frost and ice.  The Wizard Kal attempts to hide the pain with an endless dusting of snow - pure and white and beautiful.  And the Rån, the sun, makes his appearances when he can to warm the heart of his lover, but the weight of ice and snow and the rage of Lord Vinde keeps his visits short.

Vunterdua Eve is the winter solstice - the longest, darkest night of the year.  It is a night of terror for many, but in this darkest of nights, the communities of Aldsburg come together in preparation for the Vunterdua Day celebration of surviving the night once again.

Vunterdua Eve

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The night before the winter festival is the longest night.  It is one where families gather together to huddle by their oily fires and take comfort in what little they can.  Music from the top of great spires filters through the city streets and gantries, in the lowest levels, there are prayers to Narkul begging his red knight to stalk the city streets and protect them from the Hulufk - the elves that crawl from the darkest places to steal whatever and whomever they can.  The families and cloisters hold tight when they hear the red knight wander by on his iron-shod mount and the sounds of vicious battles won are sounded with deep hand bells that echo ominously.  Don't go out or you may be mistaken for Hulufk.


Vunterdua Day

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With the longest night come and gone, Rån will slowly make his triumphant return.  In days long past the day would begin with the sounding of the Ramhorn itself - a might trumpet of brass and gold - to announce that the underworld contingent of dwarfs have come to trade.  It sounds infrequently now, but small versions can be heard bleating and echoing all about the city at dawn.  While Vinde and Ring still continue crying and shouting and Kal does what he can to keep the mythical din to a minimum, people emerge and celebrate.

Food made slowly on the night hearths is brought into the street and shared with neighbors and friends and strangers.  The strange priests of Narkul, wearing a sash to cover their eyes, come out as well and mingle freely.  There are also some nobility (or perhaps more terrible things) that dress as the Red Knight of Narkul, Vunterdua,  and hand out small gifts and coins to all they see.

Bodies of the slain Hulufk, wrapped in bloody burlap, hang from bridges and lamps and overpasses.  The blood frozen, glistening in the sunlight, makes for a beautiful sight.  It is bad luck to look upon the Hulufk, but often you'll find them decorated with sprigs of holly and evergreen.  The priests of Narkul take them down and throw them into the char pit that evening - the reeking smoke shadows from the ghostly flames filling the streets. 


The Hulufk & The Red Knight

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While some claim that the Hulufk are actually people who have been murdered by the clerics of Narkul (and perhaps some of those burlap covered bodies are the victims of dark ritual or simply the method some unscrupulous criminals dispose of their kills), the Hulufk are real.

These human-sized demons creep out of the mountain underworld. Their faces covered with masks of ice, they are otherwise nude.  With bluish skin, long blackened nails, and teeth stained red with blood, they prowl the street looking for easy prey.  The Hulufk also seem to have a tendency to take anything they find interesting and carry it around with them.  As the night goes on, they become burdened with their load but their greed will not allow them to drop a single item.

Vunterdua, the Red Knight of Narkul, is likely not a true Red Knight.  Nonetheless, something comes hunting these monsters and hangs their bodies.  None have truly seen Vunterdua and lived to tell the tale, although fleeting glimpses of red capes and a huge bloody goat surface from time to time.

Better Not Shout.
Better Not Cry.
Better Watch Out.
I'll tell you why ...

Dreadful Wilderness: Ramhorns of the Unvald

Aldsburg is carved from the stone of the Ramhorn Mountains (which are the southern branch of the expansive Unvald Mountain range). They are rugged and very difficult to travel, the eastern faces tend to have sudden and often quite violent storms, and the temperatures in the winter (let alone the snowfall) can freeze a man's eyeballs solid right in his head. In addition to the physical hardships, the inhabitants are none too friendly either. The slate-scaled wyvren circle cloud-covered spires, serpentine dragons with black iron teeth hunt among the avalanches they cause, endless hordes of savages (orcs and other beastmen) come down all too often in the north to try and lay waste to Frantis Keep, and the Ramhorn Ogres (led by the one-armed half-ogre Swissgar the BoneShredder wielding a fearsome giant axe looted from the Storm Giant Durthrandar) are a constant and unfortunately intelligent threat.

The good stuff? The mountains are LOADED with gold, silver, other precious metals, gems, and a whole variety of minerals that folks tend to want. The two passes through the Ramhorns can (assuming they don't run afoul of monsters or bandits) save a merchant months of travel and avoid traversing Discontent the Sea of Woe. Aldsburg is rich from mining, Frantis Keep exists to guard the northlands from ravaging beastfolk, and the few villages that dot the landscape tend to exist as mining or logging camps and the occasional weird cult village. The foothills are also rich and fertile from all of the mountain streams and filled with vibrant life.  The moutnains are still mad dangerous.

The one other saving grace is Xinheart, a dwarfin fortress city in the souther mountains near Aldsburg.  The dwarfs tend to keep most of the more dangerous elements in check and have recently re-opened trade and communication with Aldsburg (thanks to the new Patrician).  Unvald dwarfs are not know for being friendly.  Xinheart may be the last of the dwarfin strongholds since they lost their underworld war.  It is a final bastion of the Grand Kingdom that once existed.  Outsiders - even dwarfs from other lands - are not allowed in and only a select few dwarfs will travel outside (except for the war patrols).

Random Hex Locations
1) The Black Spire: visible from any adjacent hex, the Black Spire is an absurdly tall and thin tower of stone reaching half again as high as any nearby mountain.  It seems to constantly weep a thick black goo.  Ramhorn Ogres worship at this site and are rather protective.

2) Bestial Canton: sitting low and snug in a valley between peaks, a "settlement" of orcs and their associates grunt and squak and generally make a mess of things.  The village is centered around their birthing puddle (a mucky pit that goes deep into the earth).  Pretty big chance of patrols and guards.  They like to eat adventurers.

3) Craggy Nest: a sheer cliff face that is riddled with shallow caves, making it quite easy to climb for those skilled in such things.  The only problem is the number of goatbirds (eagle-like except for their gnashing flat teeth and curled butting horns) that nest here.  They can be distracted with raw meat and tend to collect shiny baubles.

4) Bone Cairn: a huge pile of symmetrically stacked bones of all manner of creature, including mountain troll, giant, and some sort of enormous mountain cat.

5) Dust Mines of Gthaith: A group of Yauni have come all the way from the southlands to set up a mine.  They are all dead now - apparently succumb to the cold and or some sort of plague.  They were keeping barrels of a strange fine dust (bluish in hue) recovered from the mine.  Enter the dark dust pits ... I'm sure it will not contain a terrible beast or long forgotten dwarfin stronghold overrun by slime demons from the bowels of the underworld.

6) Shangrila: a peacful secluded valley with monks in safron robes that chant and seem perfectly happy.  Delicious fruit, clean water, and no monsters.  Of course, attempt to leave and things will get hairy.  The Monks of the Outward Fist have a Black Lyndwyrm they venerate (and have trained) they will unleash if things get too bad.

Dreadful Wilderness: Grubwood

South of Aldsburg lies the Grubwood.  It is big and dark and scary and things that die in there don't stay dead, probably because of Kelpathi the Sticher (who is rumored to be a False Man and a Sorcerer).  The edges seem normal enough, but a bit further in you'll find the walking dead riding on huge forest trolls, gibbering packs of savages, and strange wells and clearings that will make a paladin die simply be looking directly at them.  No doubt.

Random Hex Locations (d9 ... was a d8, then I added #9 from an awesome blog)
1) Well of Gorlieb: a diminuative well that is made from the teeth of children and beaks of sparrows. 

2) Ruins of Tul: a village overrun with a thick creeping vine.  A pack of savages lives here and offers blood sacrifice to the demon god KU6R, who resides in the bell tower.

3) The Blight: for as far as the eye can see, there is a thin layer of mucus and blood covering everything, and maggots the size of your thumb wriggling about.  Anyone looking closely will see the maggots have human-like faces.  Also, they are delicious.

4) Popo's Gorge: a deep gash in the earth from which eminates the sweet smell of freshly baked bread.  Popo, possibly a goblin, lives in a small hut by a rickety bridge and offers safe passage for a few copper.  The gorge is filled with zombies that can't escape.

5) Silver Tree: Nearly 1 in 10 trees in the area havea silvery film on them.  In the center of the region is a tree made of pure silver.  In it lives a spider dryad who spins insanely strong webs because she drinks the sap of the tree.  A silver tree branch makes an extra potent wand.

6) Tuk Tuk Hollow: The tuk tuk are goblin-kin (mean and agressive and territorial) and have managed to dig wells everywhere in this region looking for the Treasure of Jorbal Mag.  There are pits and stone-lined wells everywhere, most of them filled with filthy water and quite a few home to many tentacled ktuth-spawn.

7) Tentacle Forest: This area is infected with tentacles.  many of the trees have tentacles instead of branches and attack anything that moves nearby

8) The Dastardly Ruins: A village in great condition, but entirely abandoned, all the buildings are completely empty.  Investigating the well in the center of town will reveal some oozing ecojunk.  if visited at night, the ghost population (including ghost animals and ghost furniture) will welcome their new guests

9) One of these lakes

Encounters With The Devil's Friends (d10)
1) The Witches Three - they know things and want to tell you but that curse ... OH THE CURSE!
2) Sharg the Troll Mother.  She is not your friend.  Nor are her children.  Best to run.
3) Eggar the Host and his band of Bone Soldiers
4) Magpie the Fleshmolder (drank one to many polymorph potions)
5) Kirk.  Of. The. Lost. Tower. (brutal warlord with host of red shirt wearing berserks)
6) Ted the Mind Wizard (inept or just much more clever than you?)
7) Giant spiders that have tree branches for legs
8) A band of survivalist elf zombies hunting the ghost of Xhug the ape-man
9) A bear the size of an elephant and hungry like a great white, the bear will also accept gold
10) A flock of carrion birds eating the last few scraps from an Ramhorn ogre that was an emisarry with a coded letter for Hesporiax the Despoiler asking for more troops ... the ogre animates and attacks



Strange Stuff in the Grubwood (d6)
1) The moon just rose ... no .. the other moon.  I didn't know we had two either.
2) The wind through the leaves sounds like whispering, then shouting, then chanting, then suddenly stops.
3) A beautiful statue of a elf warrior that, no matter what direction approached from, is always pointing his barbed stone spear at the party.  No one sees him move.
4) A pile of broken mechanical animals wearing the pelts of real animals - mostly squirrel and rabbits.  One of them is still moving and squealing in pain.
5) A pond with reddish water is suddenly where it wasn't before and won't be here tomorrow.  The fish are all freakishly long (like 12-15') but very thin (2" diameter) eels.  There are also turtles that have chromed shells that shine and glitter in the sun.  The eels are harmless, but the turtles bite.
6) Will-o-the-wisps dance in the distance making complex geometric patterns.  Investigating the area will likely reveal a collection of toadstools and tiny finger bones.

The Cartography Skill

Here are some facts:
1) Game Masters love making dungeon maps.
2) Players hate making dungeon maps.

Because of this, GMs end up with wonderfully complex maps that, once translated to the player's minds, are just some boxes with lines between them and a few notes.  The Cartography skill from HM5, in this case, is pretty weak.

Things to Do with Cartography (in the dungeon)
If a character with cartography has made a map (i.e. the player has made a map) then a cartography check can be made to do a few things if the character takes a moment to study the map and their surroundings:

1) Determine best known path to entrance (-10)
2) Identify places previously mapped (+10)
3) Notice strange construction/paths (there should be a room here, or I think this passage doubles back on itself) (+40)
4) "Connect" mapped areas (+10)
5) Get a hint (see below) when at an intersection about where a corridor may lead (limited)

In addition, player who has a character with trained cartography can ask the GM to map one area, review some piece of their map, or ask a yes/no map-related question a number of times per session equal to their rank (novice = 1, average =2, etc).

Make MapsCool, Not Technical
Mapping should be kind of fun and not tedious.  Who cares if the room was 20x20 with a 5' alcove in the north side of the eastern wall?  What players are interested in is that in a moderately sized room an alcove beckons them - a strange mist seeming to roll from the floor and an ominous grinding noise coming from beyond the far wall.

What is important for the GM to do when mapping is make the exploration interesting.  Multiple elevations within the same level, multiple paths, that sort of thing.  Straight line dungeons are BORING.  Read This.

Critical Hits

Critical Hits are an integral part of Hackmaster, but the current process doesn't feel as awesome as I want it to.  Also, the charts as they exist are ridiculous.  Numerous repeat entries, far too many body parts and location, and generally not exciting.  WHFRP hit the nail on the head with their critical charts.  They are BRUTAL.  So ... a combination of things that is, in the end, easier I think.

d12	d10000	Location	1-5	6-10	11-15	16-20	21-25	26-30
1-3	1-2500	Legs	M10%C1	RM25%C2	RS2D1M25%C3	RS3D1M50%C4	RS4D2M50%C5	RS6D2M75%C6
4-9	2501-7500	Torso	C1	D1C2	RD2C3	RS2D2M10%C4	RS3D3M10%C5	RS4D4M10%C6
10-11	7501-9167	Arms	C1	D1C2	RD1C3	RD2C4	RS2D2C5	RS3D3C6
12	9168-10000	Head	RS3D1C1	RS4D2C2	RS6D3C3	RS8D3M10%C4	RS10D4M10%C5	RS12D4M25%C6

d12	d10000	Location	31-35	36-40	41-45	46-50	51+
1-3	1-2500	Legs	RS8D3M75%C7	RS10D3M75%C8	RS12D4M75%C9	RS12D5M75%C10	C11+(1d6-1)
4-9	2501-7500	Torso	RS6D4M25%C7	RS8D5M25%C8	RS10D6M25%C9	RS12D6M25%C10	C11+(1d6-1)
10-11	7501-9167	Arms	RS4D3C7	RS6D4C8	RS8D4C9	RS10D5C10	C11+(1d6-1)
12	9168-10000	Head	RS20D5M25%C7	RS20D5M25%C8	RS20D6M50%C9	RS20D7M75%C10	C11+(1d6-1)

The Codes
C: critical hit result (see below)
M: Move - indicates percent of movement reduction until the wound heals
R: count reset
S: stun result, number indicates die result (S4 = stunned for 1d4 seconds)
D: extra dice of damage (D3 = +3d of damage, always use higher die first for odd numbers and multiple damage dice)

The Critical Results
I like the various types of critical hits listed on the Winds of Chaos site.  Arrows can be used for piercing weapons with a bit of modification.  Of course, the charts are all in WHFRP speak, so some translation is necessary.  I'll make a PDF of the charts with the HackMaster conversion.  The results are permanent (in the case of lopped off parts) or last until the wound is healed.  The severity 51+ crit causes a critical result of 11-15.