This Sept 21st marks the 18th wedding anniversary of myself and Cathy (Vanadia). I have no idea if the 18th has a special significance or a type of gift, but our marriage is officially an adult now. Soon it will be able to drink…

 

After 18 years of marriage and (1986 – 2009 …carry the one, math is hard) 23 years of being together as a couple I can honestly say that my love for Cathy is very strong and still growing today. I wouldn’t trade this life for anyone else (even Hugh Hefner – you keep your bunnies; I’ll take my wife any day).

 

This has nothing to with critical charts but it is a blog, so I figured I would share. It’s my bloggie so I’ll write if I want to….

 

I like to start with a plan. It is a part of my nature that I rarely do anything without planning it in detail. I even plan my spontaneity as I often joke to my wife. Actually, that isn’t a joke, it is quite true – usually days in advance. So before I start writing out charts, I need a plan.

 

Medium? I think since it is a chart format, that excel is probably best for the presentation and ease of use. Also, excel can be manipulated into many other formats so if we do go with a randomizer, we have the option to convert the data.

 

Originally, the critical charts come in a format of A-E type criticals across the top and percentage rolls across the side. The choice rolls were 66 or 00, but basically the higher the roll the more damage you did. I put this into D&D with a roll d6 and then roll percentage dice. If you rolled a 1, it was just max damage, otherwise 2-6 corresponded with A-E.  Now that I am making a new chart, should I add the extra column and go with A-F criticals? Or condense it down into 4 columns and eliminate a set of variables completely? Although this seems like a simple decision, I find the players I have now don’t want the system to change that much. As I have often said, people don’t want change - they want consistency. Thoughts? Comments?

 

Types of criticals are divided up with slash, puncture, and crush. Then you have martial arts tables for strikes, grappling and another for throws. Now with monsters, you can put claws as slash and bite as punctures – although I am considering a new table for bites and claws of oversized creatures. Am I missing a type here?

 

Man … This could be a lot of work. Of course, that is the point isn’t it? An exercise to get me off my butt – literally.