I’m at FanExpo in Toronto and talking to a young artist about the T-shirt I am wearing (Trust Me, I’m a DM – available online, go buy a dozen now) and he is telling me how he loves the shirt because he has been a Dm since he was 7 years old. I replied that I started my DM life in 1983. His response was a quiet “…Dude! That was the year I was born”.

 

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Roger (Alacrity on the Inn) and I am an old school gamer – I still have my 1st edition rules and I play a 2e/house rules hybrid. I figure that I will have to read the 4th edition rules one day because you can’t communicate with the global D&D world if you don’t stay current. So as much as I can be an old codger about things (in my day we had THAC0, and we like it!), the world marches on whether you want it to take a break or not.

 

So this brings me to my critical tables. I have a series of critical tables that I stole from Rolemaster when it first came out. Back in those days, with larceny in our hearts, John and I bought the rulebooks, then he’d photocopy them at his dad’s work, and then we’d sell them to our friends to make back the money for the books (we were non-profit – really.). And to think that I now work in printing and the mere mention of copyright infringement will send me into a speech about piracy and plundering copy. Oh well, the beatniks of the 60’s sold out too, so I’m no different. These tables are based on a percentage die system but I modified them on the fly to the joy of those who game with me. They revel in the chance to here in the description of how there critical has disabled an opponent, and cower at the possibility of the fumble going very wrong. In many ways, the tables make the game because instead of the simple 2x, 3x number, the charts allow for some detail, often gory, that made the game seem real. I guess everyone needs a little Tarantino in the D&D once in awhile. (Shot strikes foe in chest, sending him back ten feet to a spot suitable for dying)

 

Where was I? Oh yeah. My critical tables are over 20 years old. Considering they are copies on 20# bond, I am not sure how long they will last. So I would like to start a grand project of redoing my critical tables and making them “game generic” as possible. The hard part of this task will be the balance between keeping the charts as useable as possible in most D&D systems without losing the original flavour of the tables. More detail will follow as I start working on the charts. The real Grand Grand Scheme would be to recreate the table and them work with Olan to make them into a random generator on the inn. But I have a list of projects as long as my arm (and I’m a big guy) that I have started and stopped. How to make sure I complete this? Real Life has a way of taking time away from you and you can spend months without working on a project. This bothers me because I would like to finish something this year and get back into writing.

 

So, taking inspiration from the Julie & Julia Project, I present – A Year of Living Critically - My attempt to complete a major project in a year put into words via a blog. No doubt it will meander all over the place, sometimes off topic and sometimes on, but so do I so at least it will be real. If I finish early, great, then I will move on to other D&D articles I have on my list, like my mana based magic system and dragons in Audalis.