Thursday, July 25, 2019

ba5ic: A Rough Draft of a 5e Continual Light

As I noted in my last post, I am itching to sink my teeth into the D&D Essentials Kit in order to glean a simpler, cleaner version of 5e. Truth be told, this not a new desire. As can be seen here and here, I started a similar effort over a year ago.

I actually have a flawed version of these ideas that is about 64 pages long that I dubbed ba5ic; however, I was never really satisfied with it. More importantly, I found that I really didn’t want to play it. So, despite sending it off to a couple people to get their opinion, I never went back to fix the many problems that it had.

That is, until now. I realized that I could plug in the three “Sidekick” classes from the Essentials Kit into what I already put together last year. In process, not only could I trim some of the fat, but I would have to trim a lot of the fat by virtue of the simplicity of the three classes.

I now have a rough draft that sits at 43 pages. This includes 2 splash pages, a one-page Sample Wilderness and a one-page Sample Dungeon.

Cover Art by James Shields

Truth be told, I think more fat could be trimmed if I knew the system better. I just haven’t played enough 5e to be able to capably simplify some of its subsystems.

That being said, this is something I would love to see get a POD treatment. To that end, I would ask your help. Read it. Spot the multiple typos that I know exist. Spot places that fat can be easily trimmed, and suggest ways to trim even more fat. One obvious place is the equipment list. What stays, what goes? Necessarily, I kept the list of magic items short. Good list? Bad list? What shouldn’t be there and what is missing?

You can download the rough draft here.

Thanks and enjoy.

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8 comments:

  1. IfrytJuly 26, 2019 at 2:55 AM

    On page 4 there should be an extra step:
    Step 4: Choose a Background
    Step 5: Equip Character

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FrDaveJuly 26, 2019 at 7:51 AM

      Thank you! Fixed.

      Delete
    2. shanepatrickwardJuly 26, 2019 at 8:35 AM

      This is great. I should note that the backgrounds are not covered under the SRD, they would need to be created from scratch. I was thinking about this last night, and creating my own hack. What I was trying to wrap my head around was creating "race as a class". I may try that later when I have time. It would change a few things however.

      Delete
    3. FrDaveJuly 26, 2019 at 8:49 AM

      The concept of the Background is, as is the Acolyte specifically. This is why I chose to use Backgrounds as I did — as a way to introduce character concepts that allude to what would become classes in various editions of the game.

      Delete
  2. Anders HJuly 26, 2019 at 5:42 AM

    I finished my own attempt at this earlier this year.

    https://mythlands-erce.blogspot.com/2019/05/into-unknown-is-now-available-in-print.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. mattJuly 26, 2019 at 2:38 PM

    Whoa, this is pretty darn good! Great job! I still struggle with the weaponized cantrips, but maybe I can get over that...

    ReplyDelete
  4. SaxoAugust 17, 2019 at 12:00 PM

    Looks great and somehow like a complete game. Well done. Typo spotted in the level progression for each class : you are missing a "t" in "adventure", right now it says "advenure until next level"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lionel RudlingSeptember 1, 2019 at 4:16 AM

    You never define what it us to have advantage or disadvantage, but refer to it in several paces.

    ReplyDelete