Hengeyokai for TS&R Jade

 My second son, Steven, just turned 8 yesterday. He loves playing RPGs (until his short attention span runs out), and while he is half Korean, he's not too interested in Asian historical or fantastic dramas/movies. There was a Jackie Chan/John Cusack movie on TV yesterday while we were visiting his grandma's house. I watched a bit of it. He had zero interest. 

But when I talk about running a new D&D campaign with Asian fantasy tropes, he's down to play a ninja. 

Of course, he wants to be a cat-man ninja. 

Well, I'm not gonna make a Basic D&D version of the Tabaxi (all the rage in 5E), or make Rakasta a playable race (I think some BECMI supplement did that), but I did take a look at the 1E OA for the Hengeyokai stats, since one of their types is "cat."

And to make my son happy [as I did a few years ago by converting Dragonborn to Classic D&D for my older son], I took a stab at a TS&R Hengeyokai race. 

Before I present what I came up with, a few thoughts. 

First, I don't need 12 different animal types. Six, one for each of the six ability scores, is enough. Also, I've already got Vanara converted from 3E OA, so don't need Monkey Hengeyokai. I also had cut the Gumiho/Kitsune (fox fairy) race from my previous version, but sort of get that back with Fox Hengeyokai. And I added a Turtle, because TMNT.

Looking at the 1E OA race, they can be Shukenja (8th level), Kensai (6th level), Bushi (unlimited), Wu Jen (9th level). For TS&R, I think I've mentioned that I decided on 8/10/12 level caps for demi-humans to match the Halfling/Elf/Dwarf caps of BX & BECMI. I decided Kensai shouldn't be a standard class for Hengeyokai, and allow them to be Thieves instead. 

So in my rules, they can be Fighter (12th), Mudang [shaman/cleric] (8th), Thief (8th), Wu Jen [magic-user] (10th). But each subtype gets either a higher level limit or access to a class the other types can't access. And a small set of abilities that match their animal type. 

I removed the ability to turn fully human in appearance. I also changed the transformation ability to match my Druid shape-change. So instead of 1 transformation per level per day, they can transform for up to 1 hour per day, minimum 1 turn per transformation. Quite different from the 1E version, but avoids being a carp hengeyokai who transforms into fish for to navigate that ONE section of the dungeon...only to be stuck in fish form until the next day.

Sticking to the 1E rules, they can only speak to normal animals of their type or other hengeyokai when in animal form, and can't cast spells. In humanoid form, they can understand animals of their type but can't speak to them. 

Anyway, without further ado (and remember this is just a first draft which will be tested for balance in play), here are my Hengeyokai for TS&R Jade: 

Hengeyokai

Hengeyokai are shapeshifters that can take on an animal or humanoid form. In animal form, they are indistinguishable from a normal animal of their subtype. In humanoid form, they are human-sized, stand upright, but have animal heads and features. There are six subtypes, each with their own special abilities. Each subtype also gets an exception to the normal class restrictions for hengeyokai.

Minimum Scores: Dog: Str 9; Fox: Int 9; Turtle: Wis 9; Cat: Dex 9; Raccoon Dog: Con 9; Crane: Cha 9

Class: Fighter 12, Mudang 8, Thief 8, Wu Jen 10

Shapechange: The hengeyokai can change into the form of a normal animal for up to 1 hour (6 turns) each day. The hengeyokai keeps their hit points and ability scores, but other stats are as the animal. They may not cast spells while in animal form. They may speak only to animals of their type or other hengeyokai while in animal form, but understand all known languages. In humanoid form, they may not speak to animals of their type, but understand them.

Restrictions: Hengeyokai are shapechangers, and are vulnerable to any magic specific to shapechangers.

Languages: Common, Yokai, animal type

Subtypes:

Dog: Track by scent 1-4/d6. May add +4 to hit on a melee attack 1/day. Sohei 8.

Dog Form: AC 11, Bite 1d6, Move 120(40)

Fox: Detect secret doors 1-2/d6, Detect traps 1-2/d6. Wu Jen 12.

Fox Form: AC 12, Bite 1d3, Move 150(50)

Turtle: +2 AC. Hold breath for up to 1 hour. Xia 8.

Turtle Form: AC 16, Bite 1, Move 60(20), Swim 90(30)

Cat: Balance 1-5/d6, Move silently 1-2/d6, Jump 10’ high or long. Yakuza 8.

Cat Form: AC 12, Claw 1d2, Move 120(40)

Raccoon Dog: +4 to save vs poison or petrification. Mudang 10.

Raccoon Dog Form: AC 11, Bite 1d6, Move 90(30)

Crane: Half damage from falling. +1 bonus to Reaction rolls. Kensei 8.

Crane Form: AC 13, Bite 1d2, Move 60(20), Fly 120(40)

Recent Viewing and Reading

 I've taken a bit of a break from running and playing RPGs. While I sort out how I want to begin my new game, which will be face to face instead of online, and my friend Denis preps for his new online Gamma World game, I haven't had much urge to run my West Marches or Star Wars games. I may not run WM again anyway (as I think I mentioned), but I will get some more SW gaming going once things settle down a bit. Anyway, it's summer vacation time. People have been going on vacations or are just busy with other stuff recently anyway (including me!). 

 I have been doing a lot of reading and viewing the past several weeks. Here's a little run-down of what I've been consuming and how well I liked it. 

Thor: Love and Thunder

I was going to do a proper review post, but it's been almost 2 weeks since I saw it already. So I'll start with that here. T:L&T is much more of a Taika Waititi film than Thor: Ragnarok was, if that makes sense. It's a bit goofier, a bit more rambling, and definitely off-beat. It's not quite as good as Ragnarok was. It's got good action sequences. Funny jokes (although many are forced or silly throw-away gags). Some emotional scenes. I think it falls a bit flat in that it could gotten much more emotional by investing more in Jane's and Gorr's story arcs, which were more interesting than Thor's. Thor is his own comedy relief in this movie, instead of letting Banner/Hulk and Korg take care of that. It's still a fun adventure movie, but I think it sacrificed some of the emotional strength it could have had for interesting but ultimately silly situations. 

That said, I am enjoying the recent trend in the MCU movies to let the directors put their stamp on their films. Eternals felt different. Black Widow felt different. Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness felt different. Shang Chi felt pretty typical, but it was full of cool magical martial arts action. Thor: L&T also felt different. I think that's a good thing for the MCU, even if it doesn't always work out.

The Boys Season 3 (Amazon Prime Video)

I semi binged the season. It continues to entertain, but something about this season felt like going through the motions. Sure, they introduced Soldier Boy and dealt with that plot thread by the end of the season. But almost all of the other continuing plot points were just punted down the line. I'm not sure how many seasons they're planning for this show, but if season 4 continues this trend, I may be done watching it. Unlike a monthly comic book, I don't think it's a good idea to have this sort of TV show go on forever. 

Stranger Things Season 4 (Netflix)

Oh my God! This season rocked. More prominent D&D! Some cool new characters, like Eddie Munson (the DM) and Argyle (the stoner) and Jason (the dickhead jock). Homages to Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, other mid to late 80s horror franchises. Kate Bush and Metallica!!! The Russia side plot was a bit silly, much like the Russians in Indiana side plot of season 3, but other than that it was gold. Looking forward for the series finale in Season 5.

 Ms. Marvel (Disney+)

This should be the future of the MCU! This show was so good. It had heart. It had charm. It had everything you'd want from a bildungsroman hero show. The actors made you feel not just like you were watching real people deal with real situations, they made you really love their (extended to include friends) family. The plot had its "save the world" bit, but it wasn't the primary conflict and wasn't hyped as some sort of DC style "Crisis." Best MCU Disney+ show to date.

Dune (2021)

My older boy, out of nowhere (probably something he saw on YouTube or heard from a friend in one of his Discord groups) suddenly asked me the other day if we could watch this. I missed it when it was in theaters in Korea (because of covid-19 and a full schedule, and because Flynn said he didn't want to see it when I asked him then). Anyway, we watched it together. It was pretty good. It's been quite a few years since I read the novel or seen the Lynch film or the Sci Fi mini-series versions, but it was close enough to what I remembered that I could explain the strange bits to him. I enjoyed it. We're looking forward to part 2 next year (and will see it in the theaters!), but I can't say it blew me away. Flynn loved it, though, saying he enjoyed it more than anything Star Wars. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)

Speaking of Star Wars, this was a pretty cool little show. Yeah, it bent the established canon a bit, but it did its best to try and rectify things that happened in the prequels, the original trilogy, and in this show itself. And it was cool to see both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen together again. And more Darth Vader is never a bad thing. There were a few weird things that didn't quite make sense, but it was definitely a step up from The Book of Boba Fett (which I also enjoyed). Decent quality Star Wars fare, and I really don't see what all the incel/racist types were complaining about. But then they'll complain about just about everything on this list no matter what, so screw them anyway.

Stephen King's The Dark Tower series

I've read this series through several times, and I'm currently re-reading it (in the middle of the final volume). If you've read it all the way to the end, well, what Roland the Gunslinger finds at the top of the Dark Tower pretty much demands that you re-read the series. Ka is a wheel, and it keeps on spinning. The impetus for this re-reading was that I finally picked up a copy of volume I The Gunslinger in hardback. I'd been lucky enough to score a limited 1st Edition hardback of Wizard and Glass back when it came out, and then got first editions of the final three books when they came out as well. A few months back I treated myself to a hardback copy of The Gunslinger (unfortunately not a first edition, it's the revised version, and sans the Whelan illustrations). Then I figured I might as well get hardback copies of The Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands. Once I had all these hard copies (including The Wind Through the Keyhole), I figured it was time to read them again. And I'm enjoying it a lot, although I've been dreading a certain scene which I'm approaching quickly. When I finished reading this morning to come to work, the ka-tet were about to assault Algul Siento. This dread of re-reading this coming section of the work has been with me since my re-read of The Waste Lands, and it really puts a new spin on my take on the thing. Anyway, long story short (and without spoilers), this series still has what it takes to move me. 

Daredevil Season 1, Episode 1 (formerly Netflix, now Disney+)

All the former Netflix MCU "Defenders" related shows finally went up on Korean Disney+. They'd been off Netflix (and available to US D+ subscribers) for a while. Anyway, I noticed that they were finally up, so re-watched the first episode the other day to see if I'd want to revisit them. I really enjoyed Charlie Cox's take on Daredevil, and I'm glad they're keeping him (and Vincent D'onofrio as Kingpin) in the MCU. Flynn is interested in finally watching these shows, but Steven is still a bit young.  Maybe. Fururama is also now available on Korean Disney+, and that's a bit more family friendly!

Self-taught

JB put up an excellent post recently asking the question: why aren't there any good guides for beginning DMs? It's a lot easier to be a novice player and get into RPGs. Alexis at Tao of D&D has taken the challenge and has made some excellent posts about the poor writing in the old TSR books, and how their need to market the game, as well as inexperience as writers, gets in the way of actually teaching. He has an ongoing series of posts, three and counting at the moment (start here). Check them out.

While I could give it my own try (I will eventually when I start releasing TS&R books), here I'm just going to reminisce a bit about my own experiences, as best I remember them, of trying to figure out the game from the books. 

I got the Mentzer Basic set for my 11th birthday, back in 1984. I'd seen the D&D cartoon, had a few Endless Quest books (plus Choose Your Own Adventure and similar 2nd person fiction game-books), and was into fantasy and mythology. I was a pretty avid reader. As the son of a librarian, I spent a lot of time at the local library as a kid. So I wasn't a complete newbie to some of the concepts around D&D. And of course I'd done plenty of make-believe play. But I was completely new to the rules and procedures of RPG play. I hadn't done any war gaming. I hadn't played any really complex board games. Video game options were limited to my friends' Atari 2600s and Colecos. I'd had one acquaintance who had the BX books sort of explain a bit about it, but he was a bit of a condescending jerk and thought I was too immature to get it (as a 10 year old when he was 12). 

Anyway, that birthday gift changed my life. 

I remember reading the Mentzer set's player introduction. There's the little tutorial where you meet Aleena the Cleric and Bargle. It gives you a bit of railroady interactive fiction and makes you roll some dice here and there. Explains some terms as they come up. 

Then there's the "choose your own adventure" tutorial. Numbered paragraphs or sections of text with CYOA type choices of section to go to lead you through a solo game. It's possible to fail. Since it's just you and the book, it's VERY easy to cheat. But again, it helps guide you through some of the game mechanics and introduces not just game terms and systems (in a watered down fashion), but also the sorts of situations you could expect as a player. 

And it worked pretty well. I got it. I think I cheated on the CYOA adventure the first time I did it, but I played it a few more times until I was able to beat it fair and square. 

So for a potential player, so far so good!

Now, after reading through the rest of the players' book, I had some better idea of the game. But I still hadn't played it, and some things didn't make sense yet. 

I moved on to the DM's book. At the beginning, there's another CYOA adventure, except this time you're supposed to lead the players through the castle dungeon as their DM. It holds your hand, and explains some of the concepts and helps get your feet wet. Again, I read through it, and the rest of the book. Not everything made sense. But I got the gyst of it. 

I ran the Castle Mistamere dungeon for my two best friends that Christmas break (2 weeks after I'd gotten the books -- I'm a December baby). I explained the basics. We rolled up characters. Todd was a fighter and Ben was an elf. We played. They should have been eaten by the first encounter, a carrion crawler. Both were paralyzed, but I misunderstood turns and rounds, so Ben's elf was only paralyzed for 3 rounds, and managed to finish off the crawler which Todd's fighter had wounded before he was also paralyzed. They loved it. 

They took on the kobolds at the ruined gate next, and as suggested, the sleep spell did the trick. I think they explored a bit more, getting to the magic beds and being stumped by the cursed one. I was inexperienced, and to be honest the tutorial didn't make it clear that I should give hints that the other bed will cure a cursed sleeping PC. 

So it wasn't perfect. But it was great fun! We kept playing. Todd and Ben both soon had their own Basic Sets. In fact, Ben also later started collecting the AD&D books (Todd and I stuck to BECMI). We ran a sort of shared campaign among the three of us...although I was most often the DM. It went on until sometime when I was in college. I ran a few games while back on break, but me going to college in a city a 6 hour drive away pretty much ended the campaign. 

So I managed to figure it out on my own (and then with help from my friends). But I didn't know many other people who played. One of my other cousins played, but other than one summer when I spent a month at my aunt & uncle's house, we didn't play together much. I don't remember if he was also self-taught, or if he'd been inducted by other more experienced gamers. I only learned recently that another cousin-once-removed (grandson of my mom's & the above uncle's second oldest brother) played. He was the age of my younger sister, but if I'd known he played I would have invited him to our games! 

My school was pretty small. I think there was only one other person I knew at our school who owned D&D besides myself and Todd, a guy named Greg. He was a few years older than us. This guy's younger brother Brian played with us a few times since Todd and Brian were good friends. But Brian never really got into it, and I never approached Greg about playing together. I had tried to get a few other classmates and friends to play. My brother played often and younger sister played sometimes. Ben's brothers (one older, two younger) also played from time to time. A few other kids would give it a try, but none stuck around. 

I hate to speculate too much about other kids. Most were just not into geeky stuff. There was a stigma. There was the Satanic Panic (which also slowed but couldn't stoop my getting into hard rock/metal music). But I'm the only person I know of from those days who I can 100% say was self-taught by the books. Maybe Greg was, too? I'm not even sure how often he played or who he played with. They were kids 3-4 years older than me, so not really in my circle. Maybe Charlie and Adam (my cousins), maybe not. I can ask Adam, but Charlie was killed in a car accident years ago. Maybe I could as his sibling Kay-Cee, but I don't know if they would remember. Kay-Cee was familiar with D&D when Charlie and I were playing it that one summer, but I don't remember if they joined in our games or not.

The old TSR books were definitely written in such a way that the game could be figured out on your own, if you stuck with it. But we did have a lot of misconceptions that took time to overcome which might not have happened if we'd been tutored by more experienced gamers. 

And even though I was in a pretty rural area, considering the popularity of the game and supposed huge volume of sales for the various Basic sets, I suspect there were other kids in my area who had the game but were never able to figure it out.

Volcanic lava caves

Quite a few years back, I blogged about the Mark Twain Caves in Hannibal, MO. They're the cave system I'm most familiar with, having grown up in that region and visited several times. The cave system is full of twisty passages, narrow passages and wider chambers, rough terrain, elevation changes, and so on. Very much like the maze dungeon I was defending in that post seven years back.

My family spent the 4th of July weekend visiting Jeju Island. Obviously the 4th isn't a holiday in South Korea, but I'm on summer vacation and we took the boys out of school for a couple days to avoid the vacation rush. For some stupid reason, South Korea has decided that the final week of July/first week of August is when EVERYONE in the nation should take their summer vacation. We got lucky that a typhoon that had been headed our way veered off to Kyushu. Got a little rain, but not too bad. 

Anyway, one of the things I was most interested in seeing was a place called Manjanggul Cave. It's a lava tube cave, created by a series of volcanic eruptions. 

The cave entrance (and my boys' heads)

And it's pretty much just one long snaking tunnel. It was wide, around 30-40' for most of the length. There was a stretch where it narrowed to I'd guess 10-12' for a bit, and a few places where rocks blocked parts of the main floor. The ceiling was also high, usually around 40' or so, I'd guess. The floor was rough and pitted, with pools of standing water common, but it was generally fairly easy to walk. When we got to the end of the tour area (after about 1km walk), the boys sped back to the entrance while my wife and I took our time. They say they didn't fall while doing this, and Stevie, my younger, is pretty careless. If he could hustle through the caves, it's not so bad.

As you can see, there are lights every 15' or so, staggered left and right, so each light on a side is around 30' apart. And they used colored lights for effect.

Not as claustrophobia-inducing as the Mark Twain Caves. Well, I say that as someone without claustrophobia. So I could be wrong on that. But it's much roomier than MTC. 

Anyway, this cave is just one big long snaking tunnel, like what might be left behind by a purple worm.

The map

No defense of dungeon mapping in this post, but thought I'd share the cool caves I "explored" on the trip. Aside from the cave, we did some fun stuff for the boys, like go-kart riding, a maze experience zone (that was a workout!), and did some archery! 

The boys had shot my old recurve bow when they were in the U.S. a few years ago, but I'd never had any proper instruction in archery. The guy at the archery range spoke perfect English (he'd lived in Singapore and California), and was a really nice guy. Since he wasn't busy, he let us shoot a few extra rounds for free, and gifted Stevie with some 8-bit glasses as a prize for hitting a bullseye in one of the rounds. He taught us a hybrid of traditional Korean and Olympic style archery, and we all did fairly well with it. Flynn, my older boy, did the best, but that's not surprising as he's always taken to any sort of sport quickly (unlike his old man).

The archery range is the one thing both boys agreed they'd like to return to the next time we visit Jeju.

Also, in ALMOST game-related stuff, the view from our hotel room included this place.

Unfortunately, I was correct in assuming it actually had nothing to do with D&D.

From the Houses of the Holy

For Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins, I have five "holy" classes. Actually, there could be more, depending on the way you characterize them. This isn't counting Bards, Rangers, or Xia, who could all be played as adventuring religious figures if you so choose. But then, you could play any class that way, really. 

Today, I'm focusing on these classes. 

From TS&R Ruby: Cleric, Druid, Paladin

From TS&R Jade: Mudang, Sohei

Clerics are easy. Mine are more or less like the BX or BECMI class, except I use d8 hit dice and give them spells starting at 1st level, as in AD&D. They get blunt weapons, all armors, defensive/utility/healing magic, and can turn undead. Humans of course can be Clerics. I also allow Dwarves up to 8th level (an association from newer editions that I enjoy), and Half-Orcs can be Clerics up to 10th level. A bit higher than their AD&D level limit. What about Half-Elves, you say? Well, in my rules a "half-elf" is just a bit of roleplay you can add on to your Human or Elf character and has no mechanical effects. So "half-elf cleric" is just a Human Cleric with some angsty half-elf flavor.

Druids are a little more complicated, but not too much. I started with the template from the Companion Set, but allow them from 1st level. Also, taking a bit of inspiration from the AD&D class for them. They use a d6 for their hit die. They can only use organic or stone weapons, and wear only organic armor (although I have a few options besides leather, like silk/linothorax, or lacquered wooden lamellar), as in BECMI. They start with spells from level 1, and their spell list is similar but not identical to the Cleric list. I added a few spells from AD&D that aren't on the BECMI lists, and a couple of MU spells that are nature oriented, and replaced a few of the Cleric spells besides those "dealing with good or evil" as in BECMI. 

For special abilities, Druids get Nature Lore: identify plants/animals, detect if food/water are safe to consume, and detect if plants/animals are sick or enchanted, each with a 1-4/d6 chance of success. They can also, like the Ranger, double the amount of food foraged by a party. 

Next, they get their animal shape-change ability. I've been working to balance this for a few years now. Lately no one is playing a Druid in West Marches, but I hope this is the version of the power that works well: The Druid may take on the form of an animal for a total of 6 turns (1 hour) per day. In animal form, they keep their hit points, but all other stats are as the animal. At 1st level, they are limited to small harmless animals (sparrow, frog, mouse, beetle, etc.). Starting at 2nd level, they can transform into larger animals with hit dice equal to their level. So a riding horse, wolf, oil beetle or giant bat at 2nd level, a giant tarantula or black bear at 4th level, a triceratops at 11th level, and so on. 

I think this gets the balance right. They can transform once for an hour, or six times a day for 1 turn each. They can't cast spells while in animal form. They can get access to things like poison bites from 2nd level, which is pretty big, but they still have limited HP and most animals don't have great AC. No where near as powerful as the 5E druid's shapechange which provides extra HP on top of the druid's own, and combat effectiveness from level 1. 

Paladins are basically a Fighter/Cleric, as in AD&D, BECMI, and later editions. They get a d10 hit die, can use all weapons and armor, but have both STR and WIS as prime requisite scores. Their saving throw numbers are as a Cleric, but increasing every 3 levels along with their attack chances. 

Special abilities, are unsurprisingly Lay on Hands, spells, Sweep, Courage, Multiple Attacks, and Dispel. 

Lay on Hands, as in AD&D, grants them healing of 2hp/level each day, but only to other characters. I remember playing a Paladin in Pathfinder and only ever using LoH on myself. Not very knight-in-shinging-armor way of using the ability. At 2nd level, they can start casting Cleric spells, but they have a slower progression and cannot cast higher than 4th level spells. 

Sweep is (as the SSI Gold Box Games told us) the ability to attack 1 creature of 1HD or less per level each round, as a Fighter. 

At 4th level, Courage makes them immune to fear effects, and gives them a +2 bonus against charm effects. 

At 8th level, they get 2 attacks per round when not using Sweep. They never get a 3rd attack, though. 

Finally, at 9th level they can dispel magical effects on their own person 1/day.

Mudang, or shamans, are the TS&R Jade version of the Cleric. There are some important differences, though. They have a d8 HD like Clerics, and are limited to blunt weapons only (I may change this up a bit), but can only wear up to medium armors (chain mail, lamellar). They can use shields, too. They have spells from 1st level, and their spell list is similar but not identical to the Cleric spell list (spells from OA, Dragon Fist/Flying Swordsmen, and Chanbara add to the list). They do NOT turn undead. Instead, they get Resistance (+3 to a save 1/day/level) as in 1E OA (shukenja), but at 4th level I allow them to grant this bonus to an ally within 10' if they choose. 

Next, they get a ritual ability. They spend 1 turn (10 minutes) performing the ritual and get one of these three effects: 

* Trance: gain spirit vision (detect ethereal/astral creatures) for 1d6 hours

* Purify: sanctify an area (shrine, home, etc.) which wards out spirit creatures, undead, and demons.

* Soothe: allow up to 4 creatures affected by poison, disease, or other non-magical maladies to make a new saving throw against that effect. 

Mudang can only perform 1 ritual per day.

Finally, they get 1d6 damage when using martial arts, which again is like the 1E shukenja or 3E shaman.

Sohei are a lot like the Paladin, in that they combine the Fighter and Mudang. They get a d10 hit die, all weapons & armor, but progress in attacks and saves as the Mudang and Cleric (ever 4 levels). 

They get a combat Frenzy ability (bonus to hit, damage, AC, saves) for up to 1 turn.  They can use this 1/day at 1st level, 2/day at 5th level, and 3/day at 10th level, with the bonuses equal to the number of times it can be used per day. 

For spells, like the Paladin they start at 2nd level and can't gain higher than 4th level spells. They use the Mudang list. 

At 2nd level they can Sweep like a Fighter, and at 8th level they get 2 attacks per round when not using Sweep, as the Paladin does.