To borrow a gag from an old Exalted promo.

Before we played the Scion
        Before we played Exalted
                Before we played Mage: the Ascension
                        Before we played Vampire: the Masquerade
                                Before we played in the World of Darkness
                                        We all played something else

Sure, the game was so horrible than memorizing the rules was a norm and the game designers were telling the GM what not to allow in their games; the cool stuff was so far down the progression line that you were supposed to spend decades playing boring newbies and gather every last XP before you were to qualify to play who you wanted along the way... Myself and the people I'd played with would count ourselves lucky if we'd get to level our characters once before everything would explode into arguments or characters would massacre one another and so on. We called a quits when we created the characters and played our first session of Mage: the Ascension without opening a rulebook. It was kept at hand just in case, but the rules were so simple and the game so enjoyable that we didn't need to stop. After that we never went back to playing d20.

For couple of years we went through almost every White Wolf game published until that point, tried several time periods and we even invented a couple of our own. Some of these experiments were more successful than others; some were downright cathartic. Still the angst started to get to us. Spending all the time among pimps and prostitutes, amid petty criminals and dirty cops, and where the only goal was not to let the world know and for the reward seeing your loved ones meeting their gruesome ends at claws of Sabbatlys or Fomori -- simply ceased to be fun.

We had realized that we had found our favorite system, but for the setting, we needed something lighter, something more optimistic . At first we simply called the Conversion, as it started as just that, conversion into of parts of D&D we liked into WoD. It did have several requirements, thought.

• First it needed to be classless.
  This one was kind of obvious and I simply cannot imagine why anyone would push classes into WoD.
• Second, it needed to be a point buy.
  Again a no-brainer in itself, but a significant part of this requirement meant that it was up to me to accommodate unusual buys, because in most oWoD games one could buy non-clan disciplines and such, albeit at increased cost. This basically meant that if a warrior did put enough of an effort he or she should be able to learn a spell or two. Eventually this gave birth to our multiclassing mechanic.
• Third, it needed to be a bit cinematic.
  Not too cinematic, though, as Raistlin and Caramon came not from Hong Kong actoin movie or martial arts manga (as much as we are fond of them), but 1980s Hollywood sword and sorcery such as Conan the Barbarian and the Beastmaster.
• Finally, it needed to be quick.
  By that time we got bored even with ten questions from Spark of Life/Death and we adopted the attitude that if a player wants to bother writing a story, fine, but otherwise we wanted to take our warwizard, paladin or whatever and simply have fun.

In the end we needed a name. That came out when we started writing a Kevin Smith inspired trash movie about roleplayers. In order to circumvent copyright issues we decided to switch and refer to D&D as Dungeon: the Dragon and V:tM and W:tA as Vampires and Masquerade and Werewolves and Apocalypse. And that is how it stayed.
This message was last edited by the user at 04:06, Mon 20 Jan 2014.

Sorry about deleting this message. I hit post button prematurely.

Dungeon: the Dragon
Storytelling game of subterranean exploration and reptilian horror


WTF is Dungeon: the Dragon?

Dungeon: the Dragon is my own set of rules myself and several of my friends were using for Dungeons and Dragons inspired games in WoD.


So what does Dungeon: the Dragon mean?

Nothing really. It is a parody of Dungeons and Dragons name.


So as this a parody of Dungeons and Dragons?

Not really. This game does comment on several commercially available and non-commercial games, but it is a fully functional (and dead serious) set of rules for high fantasy settings in World of Darkness rules.


Then it is nWoD or oWoD?

In this article I will offer three sets of rules, rule variations if you will. One set of rules will be for oWoD, second will be for Scion: Hero and one will be for nWoD. Therefore it is my goal tho make Dungeon: the Dragon available for either edition.

That being said, I have most experience with oWoD and therefore oWoD and Scion versions will be easier for me to write. Any help fleshing out nWoD version and playtesting it will greatly be appreciated.


What about Exalted?

Well, Exalted is a bookkeeping nightmare and in my opinion that makes it a failed version of WoD. Still, this game borrows some concepts from Exalted and you should be able to use Scion rules with Exalted for the most part.


This article contains only character creation. Does Dungeon: the Dragon have any other rules besides character creation?

Rules are grouped with character creation mainly for the sake of convenience. Dungeon: the Dragon is designed to replace whichever rules are necessary and leave the rest functioning as people are used to. Therefore for the most part there is little or no need to change anything else.


So where are the rules?

I'm typing them. They will appear on this thread over next several days.

Step 1: Concept

Concept is designed to replace class and alignment in D&D. Other than that it functions exactly as it does in whichever version of WoD you're using. This goes to natures and demeanors, virtues and vices and so on, if you use them.

Dungeon: the Dragon is designed to treat all player characters as mortals and therefore uses no splats.

There is one and only one mechanical effect of Concept, but that will be discussed under Mana later.

Eventually I might post some of my thoughts regarding Concept later, but these have no game effect. They are merely (mainly GM) advices.
This message was last edited by the user at 05:24, Mon 20 Jan 2014.

Step 2: Attributes

No changes regarding attributes. You can use whichever attributes your version of the game is using and assign as many attribute dots to players as you wish (I use 7/5/3).

Epic attributes from Scion are not used in this version of the rules. This is mainly because I wanted protagonists to be mortals rather than demigods, and therefore I didn't want to calculate how more powerful they are compared to baseline mortals.

For dwarves, elves and such I adjust attribute caps accordingly (for instance dwrves have Stamina cap at 6 and Dexterity cap at 4). You may adjust starting dots as well if you wish, but I don't do that. In the end I want dwarves to have at least one dot in Dexterity as well. Since this is a point buy, it makes little difference anyway.

I will eventually post my attribute tweaks later, but these are optional.
This message was last edited by the user at 05:47, Mon 20 Jan 2014.

Step 3: Skills (Abilities)

As with Attributes, you can use any skill set and any number of skill dots you wish. However, rules regarding favorite skills are mandatory (at least in this version of rules).


Favorite Skills

Each character can designate 7 skills as favorite. This is the default number on skill set of 25-30 skills, but the GM may adjust this number up or down for his or her game. They replace class skills in Dungeons and Dragons.

Favorite skills are no more or less expensive to take than normal skills. What they do is that they unlock backgrounds, stunts and powers associated with them. Listing all favorite skill dependencies is pointless, but I will give some examples I've used in my games.

Brawl unlocks most of "warrior" powers such as Honor, Might and Endurance (with Survival).
Melee unlocks weapons more dangerous than basic staffs and knives.
Athletics unlocks dodge stunts.
Survival unlocks plant and animal related powers and Endurance (with Brawl).
Leadership unlocks having army units among retainers.
Awareness unlocks detection stunts.
Alertness unlocks 6th Sense and related reflex stunts.
Religion unlocks Miracles.
Occult unlock spells.
Larceny unlocks smuggling stunts.
Ride unlocks mounts more exotic than basic horses (or ponies in case of dwarves, hobbits and such).


Therefore some sample favorite skill sets are

Warrior: Brawl, Melee
Soldier: Brawl, Melee, Leadership
Knight: Brawl, Melee, Ride
Paladin: Brawl, Melee, Religion, Ride
Barbarian: Brawl, Melee, Survival
Ranger: Archery, Survival
Druid: Occult, Survival


The GM and player should discuss more exotic skill combinations.

Character can designate additional favorite skills at price of 3 freebie/bonus points (oWoD/Scion version) or one merit dot (nWoD version).


I might post additional skill tweaks later, but this is basically what Dungeon: the Dragon uses in stead of classes and multiclassing.

Step 4: Backgrounds (Birthrights, Merits)

As with Attributes and Skills, Backgrounds essentially work the same as in any vanilla WoD. There are, however, some very important backgrounds, such as Armory and Talisman, which require detailed explanation. I will post these later. I will post detailed rules for Armory, Talismans and possibly some more after I've finished with essentials of character creation.

Note for people using Scion rules. Since characters in Scion are children of gods, it was intentionally decided by the game designers to allow players to make their characters as wealthy, famous or influential in mortal world as they like. Characters in other WoD games are not so lucky. In that regard protagonists of Dungeon: the Dragon are no exception. They are considered mortals in game terms. As such, it is highly recommended to augment the birthright list with Contacts, Fame, Influence and Resources backgrounds (or merits) readily available in various WoD, Exalted and Trinity universe books.

In my games I usually either allow 7 background dots or assign a certain number of points (usually 15) from which players can purchase Powers, Stunts and Backgrounds.

Stunts and Powers will be detailed next on this thread.

On Suspension of Disbelief and Mana

Whether they admit or not, but great majority of rolplaying games are based on Hollywood movies, more specifically action movies. As such we, the players, whether we want or not, constantly compare our characters to protagonists in such movies or, occasionally, books on similar subject. This leads to the pitfall of Realism.

Under Realism most roleplaying games mean finding reasons to disallow characters doing incredible things all the time. They usually achieve this by making the appropriate roll more difficult. On the face of it, this seems appropriate, because after all that is exactly why people rarely pull stunts in the real life.

I remember when I got my hands on Complete Fighter Handbook, now in distant 90s, that it had plenty of combat maneuvers all described in pretty reasonable terms. My pick was Shield Bash and I really wanted to try it out. I quickly realized that chopping orcs with my battle ax was much easier, so I decided to save it for the boss. Unfortunately hitting the boss with my battle ax was difficult and it meant that hitting him with Shield Bash was almost impossible. In the end I labeled it a desperation maneuver and every time I've used it was to either finish the last orc in style or capture some NPC alive -- essentially when I was toying with that last opponent. I understood why D&D couldn't come up with a better mechanic, but unfortunately this sank roleplaying combat back into its boring self. Make Shield Bash too easy and no one will bother with swords, but in stead be whacking the orcs with a shield; do the opposite and you got an useless maneuver. And since people's tastes are so different, it becomes impossible to hit the golden middle.

The problem, however, goes far beyond boring combat. In Hollywood movies the plot builds up to the point where the hero needs to do something epic to save the day. The euphemism for this is suspension of disbelief. In essence the audience wants to know that the hero succeeds, even more so when you play one.

In roleplaying the stories end with either yet another combat the characters can handle using their usual powers or the GM throws a dramatic climax. In latter case, however, the problem arises, because unlike their cinematic and literary models, the characters in a roleplaying game had nothing reliable to use in stead of suspension of disbelief. As such they needed to rely either on luck and beat the same odds designed to deter players using the stunts in inappropriate times, or GM cheating, who would skip penalties which would be applied otherwise. And GM cheating in turn feels as the GM is telling a story, rather than players participating, i.e. railroading at the most dramatic moment.

This brings us to next two definitions.


Definition of a Stunt

Admittedly it was Diablo II that did Shield Bash right. In Diablo II, among various supernatural powers, Paladin had what was called Shield Bash skill. It worked as expected, but rather than being difficult to hit, it required spending Mana. You'd give your target a decent whack on the head and you can do it as long as you have Mana to burn and as reliably as a sword slash (or even more so since Mana cost is factored in). The fact that it was not a supernatural power was making no real difference.

This enabled me to come up with this definition of Stunt. Stunt is an action that for whatever reason shouldn't be performed as often as the player wants. Main issue here to consider is a suspension of disbelief. You have none of this and you get a feeling the characters are powerless when it's needed the most. You put too much of it and you get Flying Men. Now I know there are some fans of such movies, but I certainly am not one of them. Suspension of disbelief is a flavor, to spice up the game, but too much of it simply overwhelms the senses and makes everything pointless.

Also worth noting is a very useful side-effect of this definition -- it makes no distinction between extreme feats of natural ability on the one hand and spells and other supernatural powers on other. This in turn enables us to have a classless system. And since every protagonist can pull some sort of a stunt, it made no sense to differentiate between ordinary stunts and magical spells. In WoD we already have a mechanic which is pretty close in what is needed, I just decided to rename it from Willpower to Mana mainly because name Willpower lost any meaning in the course of evolution of WoD system.


Definition of Mana

As such, Willpower or Mana as I prefer to call it, is a budget that each player has to take some creative liberties with his or her character. These include adjusting the rolls (or rerolling), making changes in the setting to suit his or her preference and performing unplausible (or downright impossible) actions. In essence more implausible action, it should cost more Mana, but likelihood of success should remain the same, so that players (and characters) would have confidence in character's ability.

In the end it's insignificant how much of this budget is spent during the course of the story. The cap is there solely for the purpose of stopping players from monopolizing the spotlight. However, GM should never equate Mana with Experience (as some other games do), as Mana is not to be hoarded. Hoarding Mana awards cowardice, characters who avoid risks, while it punishes the courageous ones, those who take risks and whose stories are epic. Do not do that.
This message was last edited by the user at 10:25, Tue 18 Mar 2014.

Improvised vs. Scripted Stunts

Stunts come in two varieties -- improvised and scripted. Basically the difference between the two is that improvised stunts are an one-off stunts, improvised on the spot, while scripted stunts are trained and learned in the same manner as skills and (most) powers. The two are related, however. Generally characters are allowed to pull an individual stunt as improvised once. In order to keep using it, they are supposed to learn it as a scripted stunt.


Improvised Stunts

Improvised stunt is any action that for whatever reason either cannot be normally done by character or requires a roll of increased difficulty and/or multiple successes. Based on player's description the GM then determines the stunt level. If the stunt level is lower or equal than the relevant Skill (not Attribute), the player may spend a Mana point (Willpower) and make the roll at basic difficulty. If the roll is unopposed, then a single success is enough. If the GM feels an opposed roll is needed, then both characters should make opposed rolls without any modifiers and whoever wins, even by a single success, succeeds in their action. If the stunt level exceeds the Skill level, the GM may rule the stunt to be beyond character's competency or may require an additional Mana point per excess stunt level. Under no circumstances the GM should increase the difficulty or require extra successes as long as the player can afford the Mana cost and chooses to pay it. Only if player can't or won't pay the full Mana cost, can the GM levy the difficulty penalty (that is, provided that GM feels that the stunt can be performed at all).

When determining stunt levels, the GM may rely on his or her gut feeling or use several guideline methods presented here. Either way, the GM must notify the player of stunt level before any Mana expenditure and rolling dice.

Easiest to calculate is if the character can perform the action normally, only with at increased difficulty and/or requiring additional successes. In that case the following rule out of thumb holds. One stunt level per each point of difficulty beyond basic, plus one more level for each additional success needed beyond first.

As a special case to the rule above, if the character performs several actions at once, that are fairly compatible with one another in GM's opinion, the stunt level is one for each action beyond first. For instance, if a character is shooting two handguns gangsta style while leaping across a bar counter (total of three actions), would be a level 2 stunt.

Alternatively, the GM may use a spell table and compare the stunt to a spell to determine the level. For the sake of convenience, I've converted the spell table to a quick reference for stunts.

Level 1  Minor effect or inconsistency: Drawing previously concealed knife even though you were just searched
Level 2  Significant suspension of disbelief: Using a table cloth to jump through a closed window couple of stories below
Level 3  Cliffhanger (literally)
Level 4  Major cinematic effect: Several steps up the wall
Level 5  Blatantly impossible feat: Matrix dodge


Scripted Stunts

As I've read once in some roleplaying book, Trojan horse worked like a charm, but hasn't been used in three thousand years since. In similar fashion, Stunts are designed to reward creativity. As such, it is desirable that they are original. Also, there is no point charging an experience/freebie cost for something that is used once per episode or even less frequently. That being said, there are times when neither of those requirements holds true. For instance, there's no point describing what happens when you want to take your opponents head. Everybody knows you spin full circle, say "There can be only one" and chop off his head.

As with our Diablo II example, scripted stunts start as improvised stunts that player likes so much that he or she actually spent the necessary freebie or experience points. After that the player spends a Mana point to activate the stunt and the effect takes place. Stunt level is more or less same as in case of the improvised stunt and in turn it is the stunt level that determines the cost in experience points.

The GM is free to determine prerequisites for every stunt. One thing that generally does not limit scripted stunt is the skill level. When the player spends the necessary freebies/experience to purchase the stunt, that generally means that the character has enough practice to perform the action right.


Powers

Now that we are at the subject, we might as well cover powers as well. For the most part powers are nothing more than sets of related scripted stunts bundled together by common theme and prerequisites. They are usually used for sets spells, but that is not mandatory. And because they are tied by a common theme, player generally gets several related stunts for the price of one. This generally comes from character's ability to modify a stunt because of their experience with multiple related stunts.

One thing powers have that individual stunts don't, is own trait that determines the dice pool. That is mainly because it makes sense that related stunts have their own rating, as opposed to stunts derived from skills.

Also unlike disparate stunts, powers must be bought in sequence. This merely means that there is a standard prerequisite for stunts of certain power level to have all the previous levels of said power.

Step 5: Stunts (and Powers)

Stunts in Dungeon: the Dragon take place of what in other WoD games are disciplines, gifts and such. They work exactly like boons in Scion, while powers work like special purviews. (I haven't bothered organizing stunts into purview equivalents, but if you guys feel like doing it, knock yourself out.) By default player has 10 stunt points to spend if stunt points are used to buy stunts and powers, while 15 if these points are also used for backgrounds (merits). The GM is of course free to adjust these numbers for his or her game.

Each stunt costs its level in stunt points and they can be bought in any order the player wishes. On the other hand, powers also cost their level in stunt points, but only after the player has bought all the lower levels. In other words, a power at level 3 costs a total of 6 stunt points, as additional three points cost comes from obtaining first two dots.

In addition, stunt points can be used to convert normal skills to favorite at rate of one skill per stunt point.

Every player is obliged to spend a certain minimal number of stunt points on stunts, powers and backgrounds/merits if they are bought with stunt points. That minimal number is 3 by default. Note: you are not obliged to spend stunt points on favorite skills.

Sample stunts and powers are coming in the next post.
This message was last edited by the user at 23:00, Sat 08 Feb 2014.

In reply to Tzuppy (msg # 9):

Reading with interest. Not sure who I can get to play this monstrosity, but I like it

Cheers!
This message was last edited by the user at 11:17, Wed 29 Jan 2014.

Hey, man, glad to see you're still frequenting this corner of Internet. Actually these days the rules the two of us were working on more than two years ago have finally come together.

As for who would play this, I already have Vane66 interested over rMail, so if you'd be willing, that would actually be enough for a game. And at the moment I would only be able to run a game for two or three veteran players. Anything more would require simply too much time that I don't have.

I'd still be available as a consultant if someone would actually try to implement this.

In reply to Tzuppy (msg # 12):

I am still around indeed! I actually came back the other night right after you replied - but my computer had a meltdown and am just now writing back even though I've been here like 4 times since you replied. >_<


ooo, I would sure like to see how its come together though :)


I was just dreaming of a face-to-face group for this kind of storytelling.. false alarm ._. I actually have very little time for playing games these days

In reply to babyJebus (msg # 13):

Actually I've come to expect this answer from you. None the less, I needed to invite you, if for no other reason then because of the contribution you've put into these rules.

Sample Stunts

Note for nWoD version: I will admit that I am far from versed in nWoD in general and fighting styles in particular. As such there is no doubt that some, possibly many, of stunts presented here might overlap with fighting styles as presented in various nWoD books. While unwanted, that sort of thing couldn't be helped. As someone who has a full-time job as a software engineer, I simply have no time to follow White Wolf publications. I certainly would appreciate people alerting me about conflicts between my rules and those by White Wolf. None the less, game should be able to function if you decide to either stick to my rules or official ones, as long as you don't mix them without thinking.


Combat Stunts

Combat stunts are designed to give an edge to a lone warrior over a number of inferior opponents. In most Storyteller games a single character has little chance against more than two opponents. That is perfectly appropriate for gritty feeling of World of Darkness, but is not for epic stories of high fantasy. That is why in Dungeon: the Dragon we have a number of ways to remedy this.

Multiparry
Prerequisite: favorite skill Alertness
Activation: None
Level: 2

This simple stunt is invaluable to any professional warrior. It prevents multiple opponents from gaining an advantage on character up to his or her Alertness rating. This stunt, however, cannot be used on rounds when any (physical) offensive action is taken, not even by splitting dice pool or using powers such as Double Strike, although such powers do double the amount of attacks the character can parry.

This stunt can be improvised at cost of one Mana point, but improvising it quickly drains Mana pool.

Shield Blocks
Prerequisite: favorite skill Awareness
Activation: None
Level: 2

This stunt is as old as the shield itself. It enables shield bearer to stand against numerous foes. It functions exactly like Multiparry, by preventing multiple opponents from gaining an advantage, except it does not interfere with user's offensive actions.

Dueling Chatter
Prerequisite: favorite skill Expression
Activation: None
Level: 1

This simple stunt enables the user to tell one sentence per turn without wasting an action. The enemy will certainly hear it regardless of what they do. The other effects of this stunt are simply too complicated to describe upfront.


Leadership Stunts

All following stunts have Leadership among favorite skills as a prerequisite.

Decisive Order
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: Varies

This stunt allows user to shout a simple order during a battle and the strength of your personality will inspire them to perform the order with excellence. Mechanics of this stunt depend on the order in question and the situation. Sometimes it is as simple as an opposed Leadership roll. In other times the user inspires the troops to fight more valiantly. That means that they use an average of their dice pools and user's Charisma + Leadership.

Cost of this stunt equals to the size of the unit you want to issue the order to.

Level 1  About half a dozen characters -- usually either a party or the character's bodyguards
Level 2  A dozen
Level 3  A platoon
Level 4  A brigade
Level 5  An army

Majestic Presence
Prerequisite: favorite skill Leadership with or without Religion (see the final part of the description)
Activation: 1+ Mana
Level: Varies

Mere presence of user of this stunt inspires his or her troops. Number of allies within area of effect (user's choice), up to user's Appearance + Honor per Mana point spent, can either power stunts, gain automatic successes as if they had spent a Mana point or use leader's dice pool for one action. The number of allies that can benefit per one round is equal to number of successes on Wits + Melee roll, however. If number of regained points is less than the maximum, the allies can use the benefit at the later time. The effect lasts for number of rounds equal to user's Leadership score. If at the end of the duration there are still unused points, the allies that have fewest Mana points remaining regain one Mana point, up to the maximum, provided that they have less Mana than the leader.

This stunts affects only characters of lower Appearance and Honor than the user.

Note: Honor is extremely important warrior power, which will be detailed in the next post.

Obviously only one character in battle can use this stunt. Consequent use of this stunt is possible only if the next user has more dots on Appearance + Honor and the effect of the stunt is just the difference between former and latter user's Appearance + Honor.

Range of this stunt depends on cost paid. At level one only character's allies and bodyguards are affected and only at thrown range. At level two any subordinate within close range can benefit. At level three the range is thrown etc.. Finally at level five people anywhere on the battlefield can benefit. Either way the user's individual allies and bodyguards benefit at a range category farther than other characters. Also, named (individual) allies and player characters are exception to the Appearance and Honor rule above -- they may benefit from this stunt regardless of their Appearance and Honor ratings.

If the leader also has Religion among checked (favorite) abilities then this stunt can also power divine blessings.

Blessing of the Strong Arm
Activation: None to activate the aura, one Mana per strike to inflict damage
Level: Varies

The very presence of the commander inspires the troops to fight with greater zeal. As above, this aura affects only characters of lower Charisma and Honor. Recipients of this aura gain ability similar to Might of the Ancients power (below). It functions identically to the power, except that Mana for activating it can come from either the commander or the subordinate and the Might roll is made with commander's Charisma + Leadership. Range of this aura depends on the cost paid (see below), but characters at the next greater range can benefit from it as well, except that the roll is made at -1 die. Anyway, in order to benefit from this power the subordinate must recognize the owner of the aura as his or her leader and be aware of their presence. In order to be able to pay the activation cost, the owner must be aware of the attack the subordinate is about to make.

As noted above range of the aura depends on the stunt level cost paid, identically to the previous stunt.


Melee Stunts
a.k.a. sweeps, combos and other ways to kill

All following stunts have Melee among favorite skills as a prerequisite.

Caramon's Backpack (Caramon's Mobile Armory)
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 1

In his backpack Caramon always has a spare weapon or three. Should any of his companions need a spare weapon, he can roll Wits + Melee and on one success he pulls a size one weapon (knife, dagger, hatchet), on two successes he pulls a size 2 weapon (hammer, mace, gladius) and on four successes in oWoD and Scion variation and three successes in nWoD variation he pulls a size 3 weapon (warhammer, longsword, battle ax). These weapons are of course not magical.

Sword and Ax Stunts

Missile Parry
Activation: None
Level: 2

In general only characters using shields can parry missiles. Character who takes this stunt can parry missiles fired from thrown range or longer as if they were melee weapons. Missile fire from point blank range incurs same bonuses, however.

There Can be Only One
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 3

OK, you wanna finish the fight quick and take the enemy's head off? Here's how you do it. You spend a Mana point (regardless of succeeding) and you roll for an attack with Dexterity prerequisite, at -2 dice difficulty. You need two successes beyond defense (if any) and you need to score at least three health levels of damage after the soak in oWoD and Scion variation and two health levels in nWoD variation. If you succeed the opponent is dead. If not, well, if you don't score enough health levels of damage it is aggravated. If you score less than two successes over defense on attack roll, proceed as if the attack was normal (and you inflict normal damage).

Single Edge Weapon Stunts

Wide Sweep (C-sweep)
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 2

This is a basic sweep. As with all sweeps the user attacks opponents from right to left (if he is right handed) that stand in front of him or to the flank. (The opposite direction is also possible, but the attack is slightly shorter.) It covers roughly 90 degrees.

As with all sweeps it is extremely vulnerable to parry. Should one of the attacked successfully parry all the remaining, who were not hit, gain one advantage on the user. It also needs to be noted that every success rolled on soak above the amount of damage the attacker achieves after the soak incurs a cumulative -1 die penalty to the following attacks, although the attacker can spend a Mana point to avoid this penalty.

For example: Kahriman, an unruly barbarian closes on four Imperial guardsmen on plains near Kamadurn. The guardsmen (heavy infantry) have a modicum of honor (Honor 2) so they decide not to encircle him. They distribute forward and on his flanks. Kahriman, seeing that he'll have a long fight on his hands, decides to use his most powerful attack up front, which of course is C-sweep. The GM declares that he can strike only three of the guards, but Kahriman decides to go on with the attack relying on superior size of his weapon. He spends a Mana point and rolls to hit. Kahriman has Strength 3 and a heavy axe (Size 4) which he carries in two hands. The guards are armed with standard Imperial gladii, chainmail and Imperial bucklers (Defense: 2). So Kahriman rolls his Strength + Melee (total of 6 dice) and since guardsmen have miniscule gladii (Size 2) they suffer a -1 penalty to their Shield + Melee dice pools (for total of three dice). The first guard has no chance to match Kahriman's 4 successes for total of 6 damage. He manages to soak one of these, but it makes little difference -- the first guard is dead like punk. Against the second guard Kahriman rolls only two successes, but the guard rolls only one. Kahriman scores another hit for 4 damage. The GM asks Kahriman's player if he spends a Mana point for an automatic success, but he declines. The GM rolls two successes on soak roll and decides to be evil. He declares that the guard uses a Mana point to gain a third success. What means is that the guardsman is cut for only one health level, but also that Kahriman's blade looses some of its momentum. Suddenly Kahriman's dice pool of 4 dice doesn't looks that impressive. Kahriman's player considers spending a Mana point to nullify this penalty, but decides against it thinking he might do an another sweep later. He rolls his 4 dice and gets 2 successes. The GM also rolls 2 successes -- a perfect match. Kahriman's player tries to spend one Mana point for an automatic success, but fails to. This leaves the final guard with clear opening. He seizes it and steps well inside the range of Kahriman's axe.

Kahriman could smell his own blood even before the sword hit.

Spinning Sweep (U-sweep)
Activation: 1 or 2 Mana
Prerequisite: C-sweep
Prerequisite: favorite skill Dance
Level: 2 (that is on top of cost of C-sweep)

This attack is simply a greatly extended version of of C-sweep. It begins in front of the user and hits enemies in 180 degrees arc. It requires the user to spin around the axis. That generally requires no roll, but does count an action. That means that the attacker must either take a -1 die difficulty penalty or spend an additional Mana point (if significant sometime around the middle of the sweep).

In the end, if the beginning opponent is still alive and has sustained less than two health levels of damage he or she gains two advantages on user of this stunt.

Whirlwind Attack
Prerequisite: U-sweep
Prerequisite: favorite skill Dance
Activation: All Mana
Level: 1 (that is on top of cost of C-sweep and U-sweep, for total of 5 levels)

OK, we all played WarCraft III, haven't we?

The attacker maintains the initiative as long as he has Mana to burn (at rate of one spin per Mana point). In the end the attacker becomes practically helpless, giving away one advantage per two spins. Otherwise the stunt functions just like one lengthy C-sweep.

Double Sweep (D-sweep)
Activation: 2 Mana
Prerequisite: C-sweep
Level: 2 (that is on top of cost of C-sweep)

Arguably more sensible than U-sweep, this attack actually consists of two C-sweeps. First one hits from the middle to right flank (if the user is right handed) and the second one from left flank to center. Yes, that means that the central opponent is attacked twice.

Double Edge Weapon Stunts

Wide Sweep (J-sweep)
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 2

This attack is in all manners similar to C-sweep above, except one. Since single edge swords are more clumsy than single edge ones, this attack must either begin at center and end on right flank or is shortened as if it was done in counter direction.

This stunt is actually so similar to the namesake above that if character switches for whatever reason from single edge to double edge sword or vice versa, he or she can switch between C-sweep and J-sweep.

All-Round Sweep (O-sweep)
Activation: 1 Mana
Prerequisite: J-sweep
Level: 2 (that is on top of cost of J-sweep)

The main advantage of double-edged swords is that they need not be turned or their user needs not spin to attack people all around. This stunt is similar to J-sweep except that it attacks target all around the user.

Power Sweep (Q-sweep)
Activation: 2 Mana
Prerequisite: O-sweep
Level: 0 (that is comes for free with O-sweep)

For one additional Mana point O-sweep gains an ability to hit front opponent twice, just like D-sweep. In all other respects it works just like O-sweep.

Triple Strike (Elven name: the Dream)
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 3

Unlike sweeps, this stunt suffers little if successfully parried. Otherwise, it's pretty simple. The attacker spends a Mana point and launches an attack first against an opponent to the left flank (if right handed), then to the right and then in front of him. The attacker may chose to save all gathered advantages for the final attack.

Northern Cross
Activation: 1 Mana
Prerequisite: Triple Strike
Prerequisite: favorite skill Alertness
Level: 1 (that is on top of cost of Triple Strike)

Works same as Triple Strike except that after flank attacks the user attacks an enemy behind him before attacking the opponent in front. (The attack against the opponent behind has Alertness prerequisite.)

Dwarven Stunts

Thunderbolt
Activation: 1 or 0 Mana + 1 Mana if needed
Level: 2
Prerequisite: favorite skill Thrown

Another dwarven invention. It is also known as Cowards' Blight. This simple stunt enables the user to throw his or her mace or warhammer as if it was a throwing weapons. If it hits, it dazzles the target for a round per health level of damage. If the target is advancing towards the user, cost of activating this stunt is one Mana. If he or she is fleeing, it can be activated for free.

Second Mana point is for dwarf to have a spare warhammer in the backpack once he or she has thrown the original one. Of course, the spare one is plain vanilla warhammer without extra background levels.

Earthquake
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 2 or 4

Legendary attack of dwarven warriors. The user simply slams the ground and the resulting shocks stuns the enemies. It causes blunt damage to all who were around the place of impact as if it was a normal hit and breaks the unit. Effectively it gives the user a number of individual attacks against the opponents, one per success of damage on initial activation roll, up to the number of opponents. Total number of attacks that can be launched against an individual opponent equals to the health levels that character suffered on initial attack.

These attacks take a round each to perform. The enemies that were hit stay stunned during that time.

Range of this stunt depends on cost paid. At level two it affects everyone right next to place of impact, while at level four it looses potency at rate of one success per step.

Elven Stunts

All following stunts have Archery among favorite skills as a prerequisite.

Multiarrow
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 2+

We've all played Diablo, haven't we? This stunt is pretty straight-forward, the user spends a Mana point and fires a number of arrows equal to the stunt level against as many opponents. The attacks are resolved as if the arrows were fired by different shooters.

Under no circumstances more than one of these arrows strike a same opponent.

Messenger Arrow
Activation: 0-1 Mana
Level: 1-3

At level one the archer can simply attach a written message to an arrow. This version of the stunt costs nothing to activate if the archer has the message on hand.

At level two the arrow plays a characteristic sound easily recognized by archer's comrades. At level three the arrow emits the light as well. These applications require a Mana point to activate.

Either way the archer know exactly where to fire the arrow.

Dishonest Stunts

These stunts have in common only one thing -- successful or not, they fill honorable characters with righteous rage, based on their Honor rating.

Sleight of Hand
Activation: 1 Mana
Prerequisite: favorite skill Larceny
Level: 1-3

Signature stunt of thieves, this stunt differs in only a minor way from standard pickpocketing. It allows a user to snatch something retroactively. In effect it allows the user to snatch something he or she "knew" that would be useful. The item is assumed to have been in character possession all the time, just that the character had no reason or forgot to use it.

Level of this stunt equals the size of the pick-pocketed object.

Level 1  Small flask, bag with dozen coins, dagger or knife
Level 2  Scroll, large purse of gold, gladius
Level 3  Sword, scepter, tray

Quick Ambush
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 2
Prerequisite: favorite skill Stealth

Each ambush requires some time to set up, depending on circumstances. This stunt allows the user to reduce the time needed to set an ambush up by one time unit by one per success on Intelligence + Stealth. So, two successes reduce the time needed to set an ambush up from hours to scenes, scenes to minutes depending on the circumstances. Speed cannot be reduced below momentary, but any remaining successes (which would reduce the speed below a round) can reduce effective alarm the victim can make (but not below their Wits rating).

Mass Ambush
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: Varies
Prerequisite: favorite skills Stealth and Leadership

Normally setting an ambush up for numerous participants takes both additional time and a number of successes just to set an ambush up and then it is up to the skill of the individual participants to pull the ambush off. With this stunt, however, this action becomes the individual action of the user.

Level of the stunt determines the size of the unit that can be covered by the individual action. At level one it is only user's fighting partner (evil twin, chief bodyguard etc.), at level two all of his/her bodyguards, at level three -- basic unit and so on.

If the user also has Quick Ambush, activating it costs no extra Mana, but it is unlikely that it can reduce the time it takes for the ambush to be prepared by more than a category.

Low Blow / Dirty Fighting
Activation: None (available once per fight)
Level: 2
Prerequisite: favorite skill Brawl

There are literally thousands of ways how this stunt can be used (and in fact its versatility is its main advantage). Seductive touch followed by knee in the groin, throwing sand into the eyes, reflecting sun off the blade into the ayas of the opponent... Different method is appropriate for different circumstances and brings different advantages, but same stunt is always used. And all depends on guile of the user and gullibility of the victim.

Mechanically, the user of this stunt makes a Subterfuge roll vs. victim's Alertness. Excess successes translate into advantages gained (or regained) or blunt damage, which also stun the victim. Different applications may have different prerequisite or dice pools, but all of them require Subterfuge.

Victims of this stunt tend to remember the successful uses for the rest of their lives and tend to regain Mana Every time they encounter the user in battle and are hard pressed to cooperate with those who fooled them.


Social Stunts

Stunts are not exclusive providence of warriors. Skilled diplomats, politicians and manipulators can use them as effectively. Unsurprisingly Empathy talent has most stunts of this kind.

Note for Scion version: While many effects of these stunts overlap with Knacks from Scion, there are two things a potential user should know. First these rules predate Scion and the overlaps are merely coincidental. After all, like Scion developers I too have been playing White Wolf games for years. More importantly, in Scion Knacks and Epic Attributes are about how much the protagonist are more powerful than mortals. On the other hand in Dungeon: the Dragon characters are mortals and therefore neither stunts nor powers give extra successes or extra dice. All stunts and powers do is either mitigate circumstantial penalties or increase effects per success once one side wins the opposed roll. For instance in Scion a character with Overt Order rolls Manipulation + Command, add automatic successes from Epic Manipulation vs. mortal's Intelligence + Integrity and then counts extra successes. In Dungeon: the Dragon a character with Dominate only rolls Manipulation + Command vs. Intelligence + Integrity and if he or she wins the roll, then the stunt increases strength of persuasion gained per success.

Dominate
Activation: 1 Mana
Prerequisite: favorite skill Expression (or Command)
Level: Varies

Using this stunt the character can force his or her will on someone. System is simple, the user rolls Manipulation + Expression and needs a number of successes equal to successes on target's Intelligence + Integrity. The level of the stunt depends how outrageous the effect is. At first level the user can force someone to quickly and quietly provide something he or she is already entitled to, while at fifth, well... you don't need to see our identifications.

Read People
Activation: 1 Mana
Prerequisite: favorite skill Etiquette
Level: 1

This simple stunt enables the user to quickly obtain information on human relationships that hours of mingling and chatting would provide. The roll is made by simple Intelligence + Etiquette vs. Subterfuge roll where needed.

Rant Like House
Activation: 1 Mana
Prerequisite: favorite skill Intuition
Level: 2 or 3

By starting from obvious facts and ranting progressively more and more arbitrary statements, the user of this stunt can reconstruct events that took place. By rolling Intelligence + Intuition (vs. Intelligence + Subterfuge if there are any false leads planted) the character can deduce what exactly took place.

At level three, the user of this stunt can also run like hell (or use any other appropriate method of transportation) and he or she will arrive just in time to stop whatever crime or tragedy that needs to be stopped.

Empathy Stunts

All following stunts have Empathy among favorite skills as a prerequisite.

Detect Lie
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 3

This stunt requires years of practice and its practitioners are respected and feared almost as wizards.

Anyone can tell when he or she is lied to (on a simple Intelligence + Intuition roll), but only characters with this stunt can tell exactly what lies are. This stunt detects as many false statements as the number of sucesses the user can roll on Intelligence + Empathy.

Truthtale
Activation: 1 Mana
Prerequisite: Detect Lie
Level: 2  (that is on top of cost of Detect Lie for total of five levels)

This stunt functions exactly like the above, but it forces the target to tell only truth at least technically. If the target is aware that is under the effects of this stunt he or she may choose not to speak or skip important information, but simply cannot tell a lie unless is able to win a Wits + Subterfuge roll vs. Intelligence + Empathy.

In either case, the user of this stunt can tell if firing this stunt was successful.

Find Motive
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 2

With a simple Charisma + Empathy roll the user can find exact motive why someone is doing what he or she is doing it after just a few moments.

Emotional Residue
Activation: 1 Mana
Level: 2

This stunt borders sorcery. It enables the user to sense emotional residue on places and items. The number of successes determines how far in the past the user can delve.


Sample powers will be posted in next message.

I am a bit embarrassed to admit: I don't know what impact I had. I dabbled with this idea but dn't recall contributing *much*

You helped me put together nicely pieces that were fitting awkwardly fitting before. I was struggling to give backgrounds, stunts and powers different enough identity, yet make them parts of a bigger whole. Even as there are a thing or two to work out still, I can look now back on my work and feel fully satisfied.

In reply to Tzuppy (msg # 17):

What other names did you use? I dont recognize Tzuppy! xD
Do I know you from the now-closed White Wolf forums?

I don't think so. I posted very little on White Wolf forum.

In reply to Tzuppy (msg # 19):
it's like I've seen your name somewhere but I can't place it
Well that perplexes me. D&D forums then?

anyways, i like some if it so far.

The dominate and rant like house abilities are pretty over the top lol
And the sweeps and other multiple attack ones are insane

Curious to see the spells!! :)
This message was last edited by the user at 06:19, Sat 12 Apr 2014.